The original World War II Memorial was initially placed in Coggin Park on Austin Avenue in 1946 and was moved in 2016 to the site where the 36th Infantry Division headquarters building stood when the division trained at Camp Bowie during World War II. Of the 259 Brown County veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice from World War I forward, 198 died in World War II, and Brown County lost one veteran per week from December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, through August 15, 1945, Victory over Japan Day, a terrible casualty rate matched by few counties in the United States. The memorial was donated in 1946 by Nohum Bernard Bunin, known to friends and customers as "Shorty the Jew." Born in Russia in 1889, he immigrated to America in 1899, served overseas for 15 months in World War I with the 144th Infantry Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division, could speak seven or eight languages, and served as an Army interpreter. After World War I, he moved to Brownwood and for 37 years owned and operated The Leader clothing store on the south side of Courthouse Square.