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.

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