Memorial

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Lt Brown was overseas since 13 January 1944.

His airplane was seen to crash in the North Sea because of engine failure, and he was seen floating in the water. The MACR contains three eyewitness reports from which these are extracts:

Maj Albert R. Tyrell: "We made landfall off the enemy coast north of Knokke at 1610. At 1614 Lt Brown called me and told me his engine was quitting. We were at 6,000 feet, so I told Lt Brown to dive and pull up, roll over, and bail out, and that we would MAYDAY for him. As I had the most gas, I climbed to about 7,000 feet and called Tackline on B channel. At 1615, Lt Brown had bailed out, and at 1620, he hit the water. I called Tackline, telling him that I was Maydaying for this pilot and gave out position as 20 miles NNW of Knokke. We circles until 1635, at which time Lt Brown was still not in his dinghy, but was afloat and waved to us as we left. He was only about 100 feet from the oil slick the crashed airplane left. We then had to proceed to base, being low on gasoline."

1st Lt Albert G. Homeyer: "I crossed over Lt Brown at an altitude of fifty feet three times, the first two times he waved. I could see that he had access to his dinghy, but I never saw him get it inflated."

1st Lt Thomas S. Lane: "Crossed out the coast at Knokke, at approximately 1610, and at 1614, Lt Brown called that he was having trouble and began dropping back out of formation. Apparently, Red Leader did not hear his first call, and I throttled back and called to see if he was all right. As I called to him, I noticed fire coming out of the waste gates, and the prop seemed nearly stopped. Red 4 then called the leader and stated that his engine had quit, and he had to bail out. Red Leader told him to put his nose down and pick up a little speed, roll it over, and get out, which he did. Lt Brown was in his chute going down at 1615. Lt Homeyer followed him down, while Maj Tyrrell (Red Leader) and myself climbed to get a little altitude, in order to MAYDAY for him. Lt Homeyer said Lt Brown was having trouble getting into his dinghy, although he would wave each time he came over him. Red Leader called that he had given A/S Rescue a good fix, and they were on the way."

A Prisoner of War Report reported the burial in an unknown cemetery of the unidentified body of a Thunderbolt pilot shot down on 13 April 1944. Investigation of all names of Thunderbolt pilots who became missing in action on that date revealed that in total four pilots were shot down, of which two were reported prisoners of war.

Taking into account the temperature of the water, averaging about 46° F, he could only have survived a few hours. Therefore, it was assumed Lt Brown was dead.