Jesse Leroy Brown: Early Life and Career

• Jesse Leroy Brown was born on October 13, 1926, and passed away on December 4, 1950.

Early Career

• In January 1949, Pentagon employees attended a meeting regarding equality in the Armed Services.
• Navy Captain Fred R. Stickney reported that the Steward Branch mainly consisted of minority races, with two-thirds being "Negroes."
• At the time, only five of the Navy's approximately 45,000 officers were African American.
• Lieutenant Dennis D. Nelson mentioned that the Navy was allowing "Negroes" to participate in naval aviation for the first time.

Childhood and Education

• Jesse Leroy Brown, the son of Mississippi tenant farmers, had dreams of flying and sought out planes.
• He consumed aviation literature, including "Popular Aviation" magazine.
• Brown completed secondary school in Hattiesburg and became part of the Second Great Migration, seeking improved conditions in the North.
• He enrolled at The Ohio State University, completing architecture and mathematics courses.
• He was a member of the cross country team and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, working night shifts for the Pennsylvania Railroad.
• He also worked nights as a waiter in a night club and during summer vacations on the family's tenant farm, and as a waiter at fraternity and sorority houses at Ohio State.
• He worked as a delivery truck driver and at Camp Shelby Station Hospital in his home state.

Military Career

• On July 8, 1946, Jesse Brown volunteered for the V-5 aviation cadet training program with the Office of Naval Officer Procurement in Cincinnati.
• Brown identified as "Negro" on his application, but on official documents, he was identified as "U. S. WHITE" with a "Dark" complexion.
• His Oath of Allegiance was the first document to identify his citizenship as "U.S. Negro."
• Brown started pre-flight training at Naval Air Station (NAS) Ottumwa, Iowa, in April 1947, where he became a midshipman.
• He finished flight training at NAS Pensacola and earned the designation of Naval Aviator on October 21, 1948.
• He became the first African American to earn his wings in the U.S. Navy.
• Brown had 218 hours in the SNJ trainer and 117 hours in the F6F Hellcat.
• Commander J. E. Vose, Jr. identified Brown as a "specially trained VF pilot."
• Brown transferred to NAS Norfolk for further flight instruction with the Atlantic Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Unit.
• He received ground and flight training in airborne electronics and tactical use of sono-buoys in antisubmarine warfare.
• Brown accumulated an additional 210 hours in the SNJ, 120 hours in the F6F-5 Hellcat, and ten hours in the N2S biplane in two months at Norfolk.
• In January 1949, he was reassigned to Fighter Squadron Thirty-Two (VF-32) in Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
• In early 1949, Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan appointed Midshipman Brown to ensign.
• The appointment took effect on June 3, 1949.
• Lieutenant Commander E. D. Willems described Brown as "an excellent Naval Officer" with a "cheerful, agreeable, earnest, and cooperative" demeanor.
• Brown had clocked 473 total flight hours by this time.
• Willems described Brown as "an excellent naval aviator" and recommended him for promotion, continuing studies in Nuclear Physics and International Law via the U.S. Naval Correspondence Course Center.
• Brown completed over 2,781 flight hours after two years of flight training.

Service on the USS Leyte

• Fighter Squadron Thirty-Two (VF-32) operated in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet aboard USS Leyte (CV-32) during much of 1950.
• The squadron exchanged its F8F Bearcats for F4U-F Corsairs.
• USS Leyte made two Mediterranean cruises after Ensign Brown reported to the ship, including port visits to Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon.
• When North Korean Communist soldiers crossed the 38th Parallel, Leyte was in Beirut before returning to Norfolk to prepare for duty in Korea.
• Leyte joined the Seventh Fleet at Sasebo, Japan, on October 8, supporting Navy interdiction actions in North Korea as part of Task Force 77.
• VF-32 engaged in strikes against targets at Wonsan Harbor, Pukchong, Chongjin, and Chosin Reservoir from October 1950 to January 1951.
• Brown participated in ten strike missions over North Korea between mid-October and November 1950.
• He attacked enemy troops, railroad cars, armored vehicles, and highway bridges at Wonsan, Chongjin, and Songjin in his Corsair F4U-4.
• He provided air support near Sinanju and participated in additional strike missions, assisting in aerial attacks against enemy military installations from mid-October until his death on December 4, 1950.
• Recommendation for the Distinguished Flying Cross noted action at Takushan, Manpojin, Linchong, Sinuiju, Kasan, Conjin, Sonjin, Kilchu, and the Chosin Reservoir.
• CVG-3 pilots conducted 3,369 sorties for seventy-six days, losing seven aircraft with fourteen damaged, and two pilots killed with two missing.

Death

• On December 4, 1950, Brown piloted a Corsair on an armed reconnaissance mission near the Chosin Reservoir, where his aircraft was struck by small arms fire.
• Lieutenant Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., his wingman, recalled that Brown said he thought he had been hit, that he was losing power, and going in for a crash landing.
• Having elected to crash his damaged aircraft behind Chinese lines, his canopy was open before impact.
• After the crash, the remaining seven aircraft circled the crash site.
• Brown waved but made no attempt to exit and did not respond to radio calls.
• Hudner intentionally crash-landed his own aircraft near Brown's to assist.
• Hudner found Brown alive but trapped, with his knees pinned against the instrument panel.
• Unable to extract him, Hudner requested a rescue helicopter.
• First Lieutenant Charles Ward arrived in a Marine observation helicopter, but they were unable to free Brown before darkness fell.
• Hudner and Ward left Brown, who likely died shortly thereafter, trapped in the cockpit.
• Official records list Brown's death as a result of "multiple" and "extreme" "injuries" to his right and left patella and before he could be removed from the cockpit.
• His remains could not be extracted because the crash occurred in enemy-held territory.
• Joint U.S.-North Korean searches for remains began in 1996 but were suspended in 2005.
• In 2013, Hudner returned to North Korea with Dick Bonelli to locate Brown's remains, but they were unsuccessful.
• Some claim USS Leyte aviators napalmed the crash site, but this has not been confirmed.
• Ensign Brown's remains and Corsair have not been recovered

Honors

• Brown's commanding officer recommended him for the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart.
• The USS Jesse L. Brown (DE-1089), a Knox-class destroyer escort, was named in his honor and launched in 1972, with his widow as the ship's sponsor.

Explore the early life and career of Jesse Leroy Brown, from his childhood dreams of flying to his groundbreaking achievements in naval aviation. Learn about his education, his experiences with the Navy's racial integration efforts, and his determination to overcome obstacles. Brown's story is an inspiring example of perseverance.