Donald Hubert Brown, Jr

Lieutenant (junior grade)
ATKRON 23, CARRIER AIR WING TWO, USS MIDWAY
United States Navy
22 August 1938 - 12 August 1965
Berkeley, California
Panel 02E Line 051

USS MIDWAY

VA-23
A-4 SKYHAWK

Naval Aviator

Purple Heart, Air Medal, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

The database page for Donald Hubert Brown, Jr

19 Jan 2002

You Are Not Forgotten

From one who served in the same squadron,
John Mudgett, ADCS(AW), USN (Ret)
1665 Cassell St. Virginia Beach, Va 23454-5651
jrmudgett@cox.net
7 Aug 2004

Mr. Brown, you were not with VA-23 for very long but you will always be remembered as long as a VA-23 sailor is alive. I salute you for giving the maximum thing you could give for my freedom.

John Champlin (Champ) AZ2
jpchamplin@cox.net

Notes from The Virtual Wall

The first SA-2 GUIDELINE surface-to-air missile site in North Vietnam was discovered in April 1965, yet U.S. pilots were forbidden to take immediate defensive action. A second SAM site was spotted about a month later, and by mid-July several more sites were photographed in the area of Hanoi and Haiphong. Defensive strikes were not approved for any of the sites, primarily because Washington leadership feared killing Soviet personnel involved in training the North Vietnamese crews.

On the night of August 11-12, the first Navy aircraft fell victim to SAMs. LCDR Francis D. Roberge and LTJG Donald H. Brown of Attack Squadron Twenty Three, flying A-4Es from the deck of the carrier USS MIDWAY, were struck by SAMS while on a road reconnaissance some sixty miles south of Hanoi. The pilots saw what they believed were two flares glowing beneath the clouds and coming closer. Too late, they realized that glowing missile propellant was the source of the light. Brown's aircraft exploded and crashed, while Roberge's aircraft, although heavily damaged, made it back to the ship.

From the
POW Network

On 14 August 1985, the Vietnamese government turned over 24 sets of human remains to the United States. On 24 October 1985, it was announced that Donald Brown's remains had been positively identified.



The point-of-contact for this memorial is
one who served in the same squadron,
John Mudgett, ADCS(AW), USN (Ret)
1665 Cassell St. Virginia Beach, Va 23454-5651
jrmudgett@cox.net 
19 Jan 2002



Top of Page

Virtual Wall icon
www.VirtualWall.org

Back to
To alpha index B
CA State Index . Panel 02E
VA-23 Index

Webmaster@VirtualWall.org



With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Channing Prothro, former CAP Marine
Last updated 08/07/2004