Jesse Brown and Thomas Hudner: A Tale of Two Pilots

the beginning of October 1950 United Nations troops removing deep into North Korea and it seemed that the Korean war would be over soon you and commanders felt that there was a good chance that the Koreas would be reunited by the end of the year but everything changed October 19th when the Chinese decided to enter the war the UN forces were caught off guard by the Chinese offensive and by November some 30,000 United Nations troops US Marines and soldiers as well as troops from the United Kingdom in South Korea were surrounded by a hundred twenty thousand Chinese troops near a man-made lake called the Chosun reservoir among those participated in the battle were flyers from the US Navy that were flying close support missions from nearby aircraft carriers and the story of two of those pilots is particularly poignant and reminds us of the human side of war the effort by Thomas hudner to save Jesse Brown deserves to be remembered the Battle of Chosin Reservoir actually a misnomer based on the name for the lake used on outdated Japanese maps was notable not just for the desperate defense and break out of the UN forces but for the brutal conditions the terrain was rough cut by steep valleys and drop-offs in the weather frigid a cold front from Siberia settled in during the 17 day battle dropping temperatures to as low as minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit earning the battle the nickname frozen Chosin equipment malfunction medical supplies froze and troops suffered from frostbite and exposure as the UN forces fought a desperate action to break out of their encirclement the men of the US 10th Corps depended upon close air support by the pilots of the United States Navy's task force 77 the bot f4u for Corsairs of task force 77 flew mission after mission in support of the outnumbered UN troops among the pilots of task force 77 were instant Jesse L brown and lieutenant junior grade Thomas J hudner Jr they were wingman and friends despite coming from very different backgrounds Jesse Leroy Brown was born October 13th 1926 in Hattiesburg Mississippi one of six children of an impoverished family who lived on the home that had neither central heating nor indoor plumbing Brown was of African American Chickasaw and Choctaw heritage he was an unlikely candidate to become a u.s. naval aviator evidenced by the fact that prior to brown no african-american had ever done so Thomas J Hunter jr. came from the other side of the tracks born August 31st 1924 in Fall River Massachusetts where Browns father worked at a grocery warehouse hunters father owned a chain of grocery stores whereas Brown walked to school at a one-room schoolhouse hübner attended an elite preparatory school called Phillips Academy although coming from different worlds they were both star athletes who would follow different paths to become naval aviators Brown who was described as serious witty of assuming and very intelligent wanted to become a pilot from a young age and grew up reading about the exploits of fliers like Eugene Ballard and Bessie Coleman hudner was inspired to join the Navy by speech by the Phillips Academy headmaster Fung the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Brown attended Ohio State University a university where african-americans were still a rarity his advisors had suggested he attend a historically black college but he felt he could compete with white students and sought the more prestigious degree he studied architectural engineering and in his junior year entered the Navy's aviation cadet program the program worked with universities to train naval aviators but the program did not operate in any historically black colleges the only way for an african-american to get into the program was to be like Brown the rare african-american at a primarily white university hudner obtained entry into the United States Naval Academy graduating in 1946 too late for the Second World War among his classmates at Annapolis was future US President Jimmy Carter he was not initially interested in becoming a pilot upon graduation served on the cruiser USS Helena and at Naval Base Pearl Harbor in 1948 he applied for flight school seeking a new challenge Brown enlisted in the u.s. Naval Reserve in 1946 and joined Ohio State's naval reserve officers training program the stipend from the ROTC helped him to finish financing his degree he was still facing an uphill climb however of the some fifty six hundred in ROTC cadets nationwide in 1947 only fourteen were black would he be in training as a naval flight officer at Marg Brown was the only black man in the program in October 1948 he became the first black man in US history to earn his naval aviator badge the achievement was noted nationally and it was profiled about The Associated Press and Life magazine hudner qualified as a naval aviator in August 1949 both men were assigned to Navy fighter squadron BF 32 stationed aboard the light aircraft carrier USS right in August 1950 VF 32 including the two now experienced pilots was moved to the essex-class carriers s Leyte bound for Korea rubbing off the Korean Peninsula in October VF 32 through the Vought f4u 4 designed by the chance vought corporation and introduced in 1942 the f4u had the largest and most powerful engine and propeller of any US navy plane to that date the plane was named after an earlier bot aircraft that had flown in 1920s it was called the Corsair a word that means pirate because don't all good stories involve pirates while the Korean War took place during the jet age many world war ii era aircraft were involved the f4u was primarily used for close air support as the Corsair speed and maneuverability proved to be exceptionally effective targeting any positions with guns bombs and rockets the f4u 4 carried 650 caliber machine guns for 20 millimeter cannons and up to 8 5-inch rockets were 5,000 pounds of bombs while VF 32 conducted numerous missions prior to the Battle of Chosin Reservoir round flew 20 missions it was during the hard fighting and chosen where task force 77th Corsairs were most needed the outnumbered troops of 10 Corps were under constant attack and in the rough terrain the f4 Excel able to maneuver an attack at low altitudes the pilots aboard USS Leyte were conducting dozens of missions every day attacking Chinese positions with rockets bombs and napalm on December 4th six aircraft of VF 32 under the command of the squadron executive officer took off on a Search and Destroy mission over chosen hudner and brown were among the six pilots the pilots flew low 700 feet looking for targets and probing positions during the course of the mission Brown radioed I think I may have been hit I'm losing fuel pressure one of the other pilots noticed that Browns plane seemed to be trailing fuel the cause was likely small arms fire Chinese troops were trained to fire in concert at aircraft and someone had gotten a lucky hit losing fuel pressure brown's plane was never going to make it back to the Leyte he had no choice but to crash-land the plane well more than 500 Corsairs were lost during the green conflict most of the pilots were recovered the US was adept at search and rescue of the downed pilots hudner brown's wingman followed him down as Brown crash-landed in a bowl-shaped ballet some 15 miles behind enemy lines around 3:00 p.m. was a hard crash the fuselage buckled and the nose of the plane twisted underneath the wreckage Hunter waited to see Brown exit the cockpit but Brown did not climb out the pilots could see Brown waving his arms the rest of the pilots were circling trying to do what they could for Brown their presence may have held the Chinese at bay the squadron was told that a rescue helicopter had been dispatched but hundred because he smoked starting to billow from Brown's plane his wingman his friend was trapped in the plane and it was Catching Fire hudner knew that Brown would not survive in time for the helicopter to arrive he made a desperate decision he radioed I'm going in standing orders were clear if one plane crashed a pilot was not allowed to risk another plane to try to save it hudner knew that he risked his career and his life when he performed a wheels-up or belly landing in the snow near brown's aircraft the two were more than wingmen they were friends Brown had married his high school sweetheart Daisy Pearl Nix while he was still in flight school the head married in secret since pilot cadets were not supposed to marry until they completed their training their daughter Pamela Elise Brown was just 2 years old hudner risk his own life risk captured by the Chinese risk his career because he was not going to let his friend die trapped in a fire when he reached Brown's plan he found Brown severely injured and lapsing in and out of consciousness the control panel had collapsed as a fuselage buckled trapping Browns leg hudner desperately tried to free Brera but had no luck he pulled off his scarf and wrapped around Browns freezing hands I'm hunter use his own hands to shovel snow with the Browns engine dousing the fire unable to free Brown he went back to his plane and radioed for the helicopter to bring an axe to help free Brown when the helicopter arrived hudner in the helicopter pilot lieutenant Charles Ward worked for 45 minutes with an axe trying to free Brown but without luck throughout Brown remained calm a fact that was said to be comforting to hudner with the cold and blood loss was draining Brown before he slipped into unconsciousness he said to hudner tell Daisy how much I love her I will hunter replied but it was growing dark and the helicopter could not operate after dark hudner and Ward had to leave as he reluctantly left Hunter yelled back we'll be back for you it isn't clear if Brown was still alive but he could not have lasted long in the freezing cold hudner wanted to go back the next day to retrieve Brown's remains but the Navy decided it was just too dangerous as the Chinese troops are nearby in order to prevent the Chinese from recovering Brown's body as well as the wrecks of the two Corsairs the squadron dropped napalm over the site two days later as they dead one of the pilots recited the Lord's Prayer 24-year old Jesse Leroy Brown the United States Navy's first black aviator also became the first u.s. black naval officer to die in the Korean War Hunter fully expected to be court-martialed but the captain of the late a decided instead to decorate him he said in a message to the press there has been no finer action of unselfish heroism in military history on April 13th 1951 hudner was awarded the Medal of Honor for his attempt to save Brown the citation read lieutenant JG Hunter's exceptionally valiant action and selfless devotion to a shipmate sustained and enhanced the highest traditions of the US Naval Service Daisy Brown was at the ceremony and the award was presented by President Truman who was said to have remarked they would rather have been awarded the Medal of Honor than become a president hudner was the first servicemen to be awarded the Medal of Honor for the Korean War Jesse L brown who broke the color barrier for a u.s. naval aviation inspired an entire new generation of black aviators he was possibly awarded the purple Ark the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross on February 17th 1973 the US Navy christened a Knox class frigate the USS Jesse L Brown it was just the third u.s. Navy ship named after an African American Daisy and Pamela were both present for the ship's christening as was Tom hudner the men of 10 Corps eventually escaped the encirclement at Chosun reservoir but the retreat came at a high cost for both sides despite the bitter fighting more men were lost to the cold than to the enemy the survivors of the battle became known as the chosen few hudner who later said that he did not think of himself as a hero returned to North Korea in 2013 to seek permission from the reclusive regime the search for brown's remains in a prepared letter the country's leader kim jong hoon said that he was impressed that hudner had come so far after so long to keep a promise to a friend then gave permission for his army to search for brown's remains which have not yet been discovered in April 2017 an arleigh burke-class guided-missile destroyer was christened the USS Thomas hudner hudner was present at the ceremony Tom hudner who eventually reached the rank of captain remained in close contact with Browns widow Daisy throughout her life she passed away in 2014 at the age of 87 Thomas J hudner jr. recipient of the Medal of Honor passed away in November of 2017 at the age of 93 I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guys we're at snippets a forgotten history between ten and fifteen minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section I will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on Facebook Instagram Twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring comm and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 204,078

Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, korean war, battle of chosin reservoir, Vought Corsair, Jesse Brown, black history month

Id: Cuo1sia2-EI

Length: 13min 13sec (793 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 19 2020