Jesse LeRoy Brown (October 13, 1926 – December 4, 1950) was a United States Navy officer. He was the first African-American aviator to complete the United States Navy's basic flight training program who was later became a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross; and the first African-American naval officer killed in the Korean War.
Biography[]
Brown was born of six children on 13 October 1926 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Julia Lindsey Brown, a schoolteacher, and John Brown, a grocery warehouse worker. Brown's ancestry was African American, Chickasaw, and Choctaw. The family lived in a house without central heating or indoor plumbing so they relied on a fireplace for warmth. As a child, Jesse's brother William fell into this fireplace and was severely burned. During the beginning of the Great Depression, Brown's fathers lost his job and relocated the family to Palmer's Crossing, 10 miles from Hattiesburg, where he worked at a turpentine factory until he was laid off in 1938. John Brown then moved the family to Lux, Mississippi, to be a part of a sharecropper farm. During this time, Jesse shared a bed with his brothers and attended a one-room school 3 miles away. His parents were very strict about school attendance and homework, and Jesse Brown walked to school every day. The Browns also were committed Baptists and Jesse, William, and Julia Brown sang in the church choir. In his spare time, Brown also worked in the fields of the farm harvesting corn and cotton.
At the age 6, Jesse's father took him to an air show. Brown gained an intense interest in flying from this experience, and afterward, was attracted to a dirt airfield near his home, which he visited frequently in spite of being chased away by a local mechanic.
At 13, Brown took a job as a paperboy for the Pittsburgh Courier, a black press paper, and developed a desire to pilot while reading in the newspaper about African-American aviators of the time including C. Alfred Anderson, Eugine Jacques Bullard, and Bessie Coleman. He also became an avid reader of Popular Aviation and the Chicago Defender, which he later said heavily influenced his desire to fly naval aircraft. In his childhood he was described as being "serious, witty, unassuming, and very intelligent." In 1937, he wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in which he complained of the injustice of African-American pilots being kept out of the U.S. Army Air Corps, to which the White House responded with a letter saying that it appreciated the viewpoint.
Education[]
In 1939, Brown lived with his aunt and attended the segregated Eureka High School in Hattiesburg. He was a member of the field , track, and football and basketball teams and he was an excellent student, graduating as the salutatorian in 5 year later. This was at the same time, he met his future wife, Daisy Pearl Nix.
Following graduation, Jesse Brown sought to enroll in a college outside of the South. His principal, Nathaniel Burger, advised he attend an all-black college, as his brother Marvin had done, however, he ended up enrolling at The Ohio State University as his childhood role model, Jesse Owens, had done. Burger told Brown only seven African Americans had graduated from the school that year, but Brown nonetheless was determined to enroll, feeling he would compete well with white students. Brown took several side jobs to save money for college, including waiting tables at the Holmes Club, a saloon for white US Army soldiers. In this job, Brown was frequently the target of racist verbal abuse, but nonetheless persevered, earning $600 to pay for college. In autumn 1944, Brown took a segregated train to Columbus, Ohio, and began school at Ohio State. During his second year at Ohio State, Jesse learned of the V-5 Aviation Cadet Training Program being conducted by the US Navy to commission naval aviation pilots. This program operated at 52 colleges, none of which were predominately black colleges, so only students such as Brown, who attended integrated colleges, were eligible. In spite of resistance from recruiters, Brown passed the entrance exams. Brown enlisted in the US Naval Reserve on July 8, 1946 and was admitted to the aviation program, becoming a Seaman Apprentice in the Navy and a member of the school's Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (AKA NROTC) program. A $50 monthly stipend allowed him to quit his jobs and complete his architectural engineering degree in 1947. At this time, the NROTC was the normal route to a regular Naval commission, but only 14 out of more than 5,600 NROTC students in 1947 were black.
Military career[]
On March 15, 1947, Brown reported to Glenview Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois, for Naval Flight Officer training. There, his enlistment ended a month later on April 15, and Brown reverted to the rank of midshipman, becoming the only African American in the program. Although he anticipated antagonism, he found the other cadets were generally friendly and welcoming. He found many of the black cooks and janitors hostile to him, however, possibly due to jealousy. Brown got his first flight time aboard a Stearman N2S trainer aircraft.
Brown is commissioned aboard the USS Leyte in 1949.
Brown and Nix married in secret in Pensacola, Florida, although Naval Cadets were not allowed to marry until their training was complete, under threat of immediate dismissal. Nix took a room in Pensacola, and the two visited one another on weekends. In spite of overt racism from at least one instructor and several classmates at this posting, Brown completed the rigorous training in August of 1947. By June of 1948, Brown had begun training for carrier-based aircraft, and hoped to fly either a F4U Corsair or F6F Hellcat, both of which were fighters. He trained in carrier takeoffs and landings aboard the light carrier USS Wright, after which he was sent to Jacksonville, Florida, for final flight qualifications. On October 21, 1948, he completed his training and was given his Naval Aviator Badge. This accomplishment was widely publicized, and Brown became known nationally. The Associated Press profiled him and his photograph appeared in Life magazine. Author Theodore Taylor later wrote that through Brown's efforts to become a pilot, he had broken the "color barrier" which had been longstanding and preventing blacks in naval aviation. Brown was commissioned as an ensign in the US Navy on April 26, 1949 and was assigned to Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Quonset, Rhode Island, as a part of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Brown reported incidents of racism and discrimination, which had been harsh late in his training, were substantially relieved once he became an officer. Following his commissioning, Brown was assigned to temporary duty at Norfolk Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia. His daughter, Pamela Elise Brown, was born.
In January 1949, Brown was assigned to Fighter Squadron 32 aboard the USS Leyte (CV-32). Over the next 18 months, the unit conducted numerous training exercises along the East Coast, many of them taking place at Quonset Point. Brown reported here his superiors treated him fairly and held others to equal standards. The unit trained rigorously in aircraft maneuvers. During the outbreak of the Korean War, he had gained a reputation among the others in the squadron as an experienced pilot and a capable section leader. He was well-liked among other pilots and the black stewards and support staff of the carrier. Brown did not socialize much with the other pilots, however, and was known to spend as much time as possible visiting his wife. He was able to reveal his marriage following his commissioning.
Brown meeting Tom Hudner in 1950.
The Wingman[]
In March, 1950, Brown met and befriend Lieutenant Thomas Hudner transfers to Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) at Quonset Point Naval Air Station in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Hudner integrates well into the squadron, which is assigned F4U-4 Corsairs - powerful planes with a reputation for fatal accidents if not handled properly. After Brown's car breaks down, Hudner starts giving him rides and eventually meets his wife even though they didn't meet again after Brown's death. In 2014 book called Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice, it stated that Brown has resorted to shouting racist abuse at himself in the mirror to motivate himself before missions and to withstand them better in his daily life.
Losing Men[]
VF-32 passes their carrier tests with the Corsair and transfer to the USS Leyte, which is deployed to the Mediterranean Sea to deter Soviet aggression. Before they leave, Daisy has Hudner promise that he will be there for Jesse. On the voyage, squadron member Carol Mohring is killed in a crash while attempting to land a Corsair. Hudner started to question why Mohring did not follow instructions, but Brown explains that one cannot always follow directions - if Brown had solely done what he was told, he would have been stopped early in his career by the many racist superior officers who wanted him to fail.
Meeting a Actresses[]
The unit has shore leave in Cannes, France, where Brown encounters actress Elizabeth Taylor on the beach and secures invitations for the squadron to a casino, impressing them. After Hudner gets in a drunken fight with a US Marine who had previously harassed Brown, Brown tells Hudner that appreciated what he did but don't not to fight his battles for him, but simply to be there for him. Brown is given an expensive watch by Leyte's black crewmen, who admire him for his work.
Korea[]
The next day, the squadron is informed that war has broken out between North and South Korea, and Leyte is redeploying to support the South. In November of 1950, VF-32 arrives in Korea and learns that Chinese troops have entered the war on the North Korean side and begun to push American forces back. The squadron deploys to destroy a pair of bridges on the Yalu River between China and North Korea, though they are only permitted to fire on the Korean side of the border. Brown and Hudner fight off a MiG-15 fighter jet while the others attack the bridges, but one remains standing. While Hudner orders a retreat in the face of anti-air fire from the Chinese side of the river, Brown disobeys him and attacks the bridge solo, successfully crippling it. Hudner's after-action report praises Brown but also mentions that he was acting against orders, which Brown tells Hudner will be used as an excuse to deny him promotions for the rest of his career, despite Hudner's attempt to revise the report. On another mission to support besieged Marines at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir (including the Marines who earlier harassed the squad by in France).
Crash land[]
On December 4, 1950, Brown, Hudner and five other pilots, took off in their Vought F4U-4 Corsairs from the fleet carrier USS Leyte. Their mission was to support embattled US Marines and prevent them from being overrun by Chinese soldiers in the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. The People's Republic of China had entered the conflict a little over a month prior. The men flew 35 to 40 minutes through severe wintry conditions. It was intended to be a three-hour search and destroy mission as well as an opportunity to gauge Chinese troop strength near the villages of Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri. it is believed that a Chinese anti-aircraft gunner hiding in the snow below got lucky and hit Brown's Corsair when it was flying low. On his radio frequently, Jesse said "I think I may have been hit," Brown stated over the radio. "I've lost my oil pressure."
Brown’s Death
He dropped his external fuel tanks and rockets and navigated his damaged Corsair down toward a clearing on the side of a mountain 15 miles behind enemy lines. With stalled forward speed, he pancaked into a bowl-shaped valley and the aircraft broke up violently upon impact. The plane's fuselage buckled at the cockpit, causing the instrument panel to smash into his right leg, trapping it beneath the fuselage. In the 15 °F mountain air, Brown removed his gloves and helmet as he tried to free himself, but he was unsuccessful. He waved to the other pilots circling close overhead, who had assumed he'd perished in the crash. Brown's badly damaged Corsair was smoking and a fire had begun near the internal fuel tanks. In a desperate attempt to save his friend, Hudner belly-landed his own plane roughly 100 yards from Brown's downed Corsair and He heroically tried to pull Brown from the cockpit and used snow to try to put out the fire. He quickly realized it was impossible to free Brown due to the instrument panel that had smashed into Brown's right leg during the crash and was now compressed against it. When the rescue helicopter arrived to extract them, Hudner and the marine pilot, Lt. Charlie Ward who was a friend of jesse, spent 45 minutes trying to free Brown from the cockpit using an axe, but they were unsuccessful. As he faded from blood loss and the cold, Brown told them to amputate his trapped leg, which they considered.
Before losing consciousness, he spoke his final words to Hudner, "Tell Daisy how much I love her" which Hudner replied he will be Jesse died shortly, Hudner desperately wanted to stay at his friend's side but had to go.
Legacy[]
Brown was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart Medal, and the Air Medal. For the failed rescue attempt, a heartbroken Hudner receives the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman for his attempts to save Brown. Hudner speaks with Daisy after the ceremony and apologizes for failing to rescue her husband. Daisy remarks that she only made him promise to be with Jesse, not to save him, and Hudner tells her that Jesse's final words were about how much he loved her. Brown inspired other African Americans to become pilots, such as Seaman Apprentice Frank E. Petersen (The first African-American Marine Corps aviator and the first African-American US Marine Corps general), graduating from the Naval Aviation Training Program in 1952 and retiring in 1988 with the rank of lieutenant general.
On February 17, 1973, the Navy commissioned the Knox-class frigate USS Jesse L. Brown (FF-1089), the third U.S. ship named in honor of an African American. However the ship was decommissioned on July 27, 1994 and renamed Damiyat after being commissioned with the Egyptian Navy.
In July 2013, Hudner visited Pyongyang in an attempt to recover Brown's remains from the crash site and was told by North Korean authorities to return in September when the weather would be more predictable. Hudner and Brown's families remain close friends to this day.