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Personal info

Full name
BROWN, Herbert Winthrop
Date of birth
20 January 1920
Age
23
Place of birth
Raymond, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Hometown
Raymond, Rockingham County, New Hampshire

Military service

Service number
O-794624
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
548th Bombardment Squadron,
385th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
17 August 1943
Place of death
Zoersel, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Harry F. Brown (father)
Nellie (Guptill) Brown (mother)
Anna L. (Wall) Brown (wife)
Herbert W. Brown Jr. (son)

Plane data

Serial number
42-5886
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: The Jolly Roger
Destination: Regensburg, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Messerschmitt aircraft factory
MACR: 387

More information

1st Lt Herbert W. Brown graduated from Raymond High School, Class of 1939, where he was prominent in athletics, particularly in cross-country and track. He met his wife Anna Lou Wall while attending flying school in Avon Park, Florida. His son Herbert Winthrop Brown was born nearly five months after his father was declared Missing in Action.

At about 10 o'clock, when the formation passed over the woods of Zoersel, Belgium, it came under heavy anti-aircraft fire. One airplane was hit and began to lurch from side to side, completely out of control. Belgian boy scouts saw six parachutes leave the plane.

Three men land on the castle grounds of Baron van de Put. It is not clear what happened to these men, but they probably disappeared without a trace. After all, four crew members are still missing. T/Sgt Schreppel landed not much further and his story is well known. This means Parker Crabtree, Olin Wieneke and Herbert Brown must be these men.

Three crew members survived and were taken prisoner, one evaded capture and with the aid of the Belgian resistance could return to England, and six men were killed.

The airplane crashed in Nieuwe Hinkelenpolder, 2 km southwest of Woensdrecht, The Netherlands.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, www.missinginaction.be, http://thisweekinraymond.com/raymonds-hero-cousins-p1245-118.htm

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, http://thisweekinraymond.com/raymonds-hero-cousins-p1245-118.htm