Word Celebrity Blog

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This post started out to be about the American hero Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr., but as I was preparing it, I realized that it should also be about another American Hero Jesse LeRoy Brown. If they had not been friends and comrade in arms, most of us probably would know anything about these two fine men.

This has become a post about two true American heroes: Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr. and Jesse LeRoy Brown.

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Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr.


Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr., was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, on August 31 1924.

He grew up in Fall River, where the family had a chain of meat and grocery stores called "Hudner’s Markets".

His father and uncle had attended Phillips Academy and later he and his brothers would do so as well. While at Phillips Academy, Tom Hudner was co-captain of the track team, a member of the football and lacrosse teams, a senior class officer and student council member. 

Tom’s father had attended Harvard after Phillips Academy, but Tom had always thought about going to Annapolis and subsequently into the Navy.

Thomas Hudner attended the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Tom Hudner was sitting in the commons area after lunch at Phillips Academy in Andover when he heard word that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. He had no idea where Pearl Harbor was but he knew it meant the United States was at war. He also knew that he and many of the students in the Class of ’43, would be going off to war after graduation.

In 1943, Congressman Joe Martin, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, appointed Tom as his second alternate to the U.S. Naval Academy. A  position opened up and Tom was told to report to Annapolis on July 7, 1943.

During the next few years Tom would train to be a naval officer. His ultimate goal was to be stationed aboard a destroyer or battleship.


























Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, after the conclusion of World War II.

Ensign Thomas Hudner was assigned to the cruiser USS Helena. That September, Tom became a communications watch officer on the Helena stationed off of Tsing-Tao, China, about 150 miles north of Shanghai.

Although the Nationalists were still in control of China, the communists and Red Army were making it increasingly difficult for Americans. It was Tom’s duty to read incoming and outgoing messages, decode / encode them, and pass them along to interested officials. After seven months on the ship, the Helena sailed back to Long Beach, California.

Tom Hudner received new orders to report to Pearl Harbor as a communications officer. He was unhappy at his new post because he was not at sea. Ensign Hudner was serving with several of his old classmates who eventually convinced him to put in a request for flight training. He was accepted and in April 1948.


























Ensign Hudner reported to Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida for flight school. He learned to ly in the North American SNJ, the naval equivalent of the Air Force T-6 trainer. He had to complete six

successful, arrestor-hook carrier landings to graduate. He was then sent to Corpus Christi, Texas for advanced training with the Corsair F4U and finally back to Pensacola where he received his aviator wings in August of 1949.

Tom's first duty was at the Naval Air Station at Quonset Point, Rhode Island where he was assigned to VA-75, an attack squadron of Douglas AD-1 Skyraiders, as part of Air Group 7.

About a month later, VA-75 was decommissioned and he was reassigned to VF-32, a Corsair squadron aboard the USS Leyte aircraft carrier. On May 1, 1950 the Leyte sailed to the Mediterranean for a six-month deployment. Tom Hudner was now Lt. J.G. Thomas J. Hudner, Jr.

























It was at Quonset Point where Tom Hudner would first meet Ensign Jesse L. Brown, another aviator assigned to the same squadron. Ensign Brown was the Navy’s first black aviator. Although the Tuskegee Airmen had paved the way for black aviators in World War II, it still took years for the other services to accept this cultural change.





















VF-32 Ready Room aboard USS LEYTE

He eventually went through the same training as Tom Hudner, first at Pensacola and then Corpus Christi. Tom Hunter said that he believes Jesse was eventually assigned to Quonset Point to get him away from the bigotry that was still widespread in the South.

Four years after graduating from Annapolis, Lt. (J.G.) Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. would find himself in another war,  The Korean War.





















The USS Leyte was off the coast of Cannes, France, about 6 weeks into its deployment, when North Korea attacked South Korea. Most Americanss asked “Where is Korea?”






















On August 8th, six weeks after the initial attack, and after being relieved by another carrier stationed off Lebanon, the Leyte was ordered to Korea. The first port of call was back to Norfolk for war preparation and to take on six Marine Sikorsky helicopters and ten Marine pilots. The USS Leyte left Norfolk, Virginia  and after traveling through the Panama Canal headed west across the Pacific. Reaching Japan, they dropped off the Marines and their helicopters and then hurried off to the east coast of Korea on 8 October 1950. The Leyte joined with three other carriers to provide close ground support to U.S. troops that were ordered in that summer by President Harry S Truman.






















At this point in time, the Leyte had one squadron of Grumman F9F-2 Panther jets, two squadrons of Chance Vought Corsair F4U-4 fighters, and one squadron of Douglas AD-1 Skyraiders. Although the jets were the superior in speed than the fighters, they could only stay in the air half as long as the other aircraft, and when strafing some had difficulty pulling out  of the dive before crashing into a hill. Close ground support missions was generally left to the Corsairs and Skyraiders.




















Vought F4U Corsairs

The pilots of Fighter Squadron 32 were quickly thrown into the fight. Flight operations started almost immediately and consisted of 12-hour days where Tom Hudner, Jesse Brown and the other pilots would fly one, sometimes two, missions a day, standing down every fourth day.  Every one-and-a-half hours the carrier Leyte was launching or recovering aircraft. Early on, one of the Leyte pilots brought back word that the Chinese appeared to be entering the war.






















When hoards of Chinese troops suddenly appeared everywhere on November 28th. Air operations were then shifted to protect the retreating American Marines.



















Chinese Troops Cross The Yalu River.


While 8,000 badly outnumbered Marines shivered and froze in the sub-zero temperatures of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea on December 4, 1950 as eight F4U-4 Corsairs left the deck of the carrier USS Leyte. Each of the eight heavily armed, but outdated fighters was piloted by a young Naval aviator rushing to defend their comrades on the ground.  Most of the American pilots were young, in their early twenties.



















Lieutenant Commander Richard Cevoli led his squadron inland, over the rugged mountains of North Korea just north of the Chosin Reservoir.  The fighters skimmed about 1,000 feet above the snow covered terrain, eyes alert for the movement of enemy troops.  Commander Cevoli's pilots had been flying over Korea for only about two months, but in that short time they had become close, skilled combat veterans.















 Lt. Thomas J. Hudner Jr. was flying a ground support mission in his F4U Corsair  as the wing man to Ensign Jesse L. Brown. The two were flying with six other Corsair pilots from the USS Leyte, over the northwestern part of a mountainous, snow covered, Chosin Reservoir. The flight was about 70 miles from the Chinese border. They were flying low; only 500-1000 feet above the terrain.























Some enemy ground fire struck  Brown's Corsair. Ensign Jesse L. Brown radioed that he was losing oil pressure and power. He would have to land. Another pilot noticed a small clearing only about a quarter mile in size, on the side of one of the slopes and radioed the location to Jesse. Tom Hudner radioed to him, “Jesse, make sure your shoulder harness is locked and the canopy is open!”  Jesse Brown, with wheels up and no power, brought his Corsair in for a hard, crash landing, in the bitter cold of the North Korean winter. The F4U went down heavily and smashed into the rough terrain, folding up at the cockpit. Sliding through the deep snow, the big fighter started smoking immediately.

The flight leader started climbing to a higher altitude so he could radio for a helicopter to come in and retrieve the body. Some of the pilots could see Jesse Brown waving from his damaged Corsair. He was still alive and he didn’t appear to be able to get out of the aircraft and there was smoke coming from the cowling. Flight Leader Richard L. Cevoli radioed "Mayday" and called for a helicopter rescue.


















Knowing the helicopter wouldn’t arrive in time to do any good, Tom Hudner radioed the rest of his formation, “I’m going in to get him out!”  Years later, Tom said "There was silence on the radio after that". No one tried to talk him out of it.

Lt. Thomas J. Hudner turned his plane towards a nearby hillside and fired off all his rockets and ammunition and dumped some fuel. This was to lighten the plane and reduce the hazards of the crash landing. Looking for how best to land, he slowed to about 85 knots and maneuvered the Corsair into an area near Jesse on a slope of about 20 degrees. with wheels up, Tom Hudner landed hard about 100 yards from Jesse’s Corsair. The snow didn’t help the impact at all, as the ground below was frozen solid. The crash landing broke his windscreen and injured his back. Years later, Tom Hudner said, “That was the hardest landing I ever made.”


























Tom hurried through the snow to Jesse’s plane. It was bitter cold. Their air cover, now increased to 10-12 planes. When he reached Ensign Brown, he saw that Jesse was missing his helmet and his gloves.

Tom put a woolen watch hat on Jesse and wrapped his hands in a scarf that he had brought with him. Jesse was badly injured. His knee was pinned between the bent fuselage and the central instrument column.

As he attempted to free Jesse, Tom struggled to maintain his footing. The snow made it slippery. Tom realized that he would need some kind of tool to help. Tom returned to his plane and radioed his flight leader to have the helicopter bring an ax and fire extinguisher. Then he returned to Jesse’s plane to consider what else he could do. He started packing snow into the cowling openings to suppress the smoldering fire. Jesse was fading in and out of consciousness from the injuries and the bitter cold.

The helicopter which had been launched from a nearby Marine camp was already in the air when it got word that that there were two pilots on the ground and they needed an ax and fire extinguisher. The news meant that the chopper had to return to base and drop off the crewman that the pilot had taken with him and pick up the requested items.




















As the helicopter arrived over the crash scene it circled the area, Tom fired a flare/smoke emitter to show the pilot how the wind was blowing. The helicopter took its time landing because, as Tom later learned, the brakes on the chopper were poor and the pilot was afraid that if he landed on a slope the helicopter might slide off the hill. As if that wasn't enough, the engine on this Nelicopter had a history of being troublesome to start, so the pilot would have to leave it running.

The Sikorsky finally landed and out stepped 1st Lt. Charlie Ward. Tom Hudner recognized him as one of the Marine pilots the Leyte had ferried to Japan several months earlier. The two then hurried over to Jesse to try to free him. But the ax was ineffective on the metal fuselage. No matter what they did, they were unable to get Jesse out of the aircraft.

At one point when Jesse Brown was conscious, he told Tom Hudner, “If anything happens to me, tell my wife Daisy I love her.”

It was now late in the day and Lt. Charlie Ward turned to Tom and said, “We have to leave. I can’t fly out of these mountains in the dark.”  Tom reluctantly agreed.

He turned to Jesse Brown and told him they had to leave to get some equipment. He knew that there was no chance that they could get back before morning and that Jesse wouldn’t survive the night.

Charlie and Tom then boarded the chopper and flew south to the Marine base camp at Hagaru-ri. Tom Hudner would have to spend the cold night in a tent. A young Marine gave Tom his bedroll. He said, “Sir, tonight I think you will need this more than me.” Tom says he didn’t sleep at all because of the cold and his thoughts of Jesse Brown.

"I knew what I had to do," said Hudner in an interview by Frank Geary, for "Jax Air News", the Naval Air Station base newspaper, in Jacksonville. "I was not going to leave him down there for the Chinese. Besides, it was 30 degrees below zero on that slope, and he was a fellow aviator. My association with the Marines had rubbed off on me. They don't leave wounded Marines behind."

"He was alive, but barely, when I got onto his wing and tried to lift him out of the cockpit. But his right leg was crushed and entangled in metal and instruments. I hurried back and requested a rescue helo, making sure it would bring an ax and a fire extinguisher. When I got back to Brown, I began packing snow around the smoking cowling."





















"When a two-man Marine helicopter arrived with only its pilot, the ax he carried proved useless in our efforts to hack away the metal entrapping Brown's leg. He was going in and out of consciousness and losing blood. The helo pilot and I, in our emotion and panic, and with the light of day fading,

discussed using a knife to cut off Jesse's entrapped leg. Neither of us really could have done it, and it was obvious Jesse was dying. He was beyond help at that point. The helo pilot said we had to leave. Darkness was setting in and we'd never get out after dark," said Tom Hudner. "We had no choice but to leave him. I was devastated emotionally. In those seconds of our indecision, Jesse died."

The next morning, Tom Hudner was flown to another Marine base at Yonpo where he would have to spend the next two days, because of bad weather. On December 7th a Skyraider from the Leyte came in to take him back to his ship. On the way to the carrier, Tom learned that the captain wanted to see him as soon as he came on board.

Capt. Sisson said he would send in a helicopter with a flight surgeon to retrieve Jesse’s body. Tom advised him that would be too dangerous and needlessly risk the lives of two more men.

The captain said he had a backup plan. He would send in planes with napalm to incinerate the crash area – a makeshift warrior’s funeral. Within the hour, seven aircraft from Squadron 32, all flown by Jesse’s friends, left the carrier for the crash site. Six carried napalm and while they were diving to drop their ordinance, the lone seventh plane climbed above them in the traditional tribute to a fallen comrade.

























"One of the worst things when something has happened to you is the feeling that you're alone," Thomas Hudner later said.   "Just being with him to give him as much comfort as we could was worth the effort."  Tom Hudner is also quick to point out that he would have done the same for any of the other men in the squadron, and they for him.  "I just happened to be the one that went in that day," he says.  "If it hadn't been me, it would have been one of the others (pilots)."

Tom Hudner would find out later that Lt. Charlie Ward, the Marine helicopter pilot, received the Silver Star for his heroic efforts on that day. Jesse Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his Korean War combat service.

After the mission had been completed, Captain Sisson started the process recommending Navy Ensign Jesse Brown for one of our Nation's highest awards, the Distinguished Flying Cross. He submitted Jesse's wingman and friend, Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas Hudner for the Medal of Honor.



























"There are still people who think I did the wrong thing," Tom Hudner recently said. "They say I destroyed a perfectly good, multi-million dollar fighter plane for one man.  But what is a life worth!"

Tom Hudner’s injured back was bothering him and he was grounded for the next month while recovering.

Shortly after he had returned to flight operations, the USS Leyte got orders to head back to San Francisco. In mid-February, VF-32 returned to Quonset Point.

On April 1st, Lt. Tom Hudner got word that he had been approved him for the Medal of Honor.






















On Friday, April 13, 1951, President Harry S Truman fastens the Medal Of Honor on Lieutenant J.G. Thomas J. Hudner. His was the first Navy Medal of  Honor awarded for actions in the Korean War.


























President Harry Truman congratulates Tomas Hudner Jr, as he shake's Tom's hand and admires his Medal.






















President Truman presented the medal to Thomas Hudner Jr. in a White House ceremony before his family and friends.






















Attending the ceremony and standing quietly to the side holding a large bouquet of roses was a young black lady.  She smiled through her tears and shook hands with Lieutenant Hudner. 

Tom had delivered Jesse's message, "Tell Daisy I love her."

























When Lieutenant Hudner returned home, Fall River proclaimed "Thomas Hudner Day" and hosted a wonderful celebration. The appreciative citizens presented the young pilot with a check for $1,000, a considerable sum in 1951.   Lieutenant Hudner didn't cash it.  Instead he endorsed the back and sent it to Daisy Brown who had returned to school.
 

























Following his tour with VF-32, Thomas J. Hudner held a variety of training, operational and staff assignments. He commanded Training Squadron 24 (VT-24) in 1965-66 and then served as Executive Officer of USS Kitty Hawk. During the early 1970s, Captain Hudner was Head of Aviation Technical Training in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.



























He retired from the Navy in February 1973 with the rank of Captain.

Tom returned to Massachusetts and over the years worked for several Boston area companies in various consulting, management and administrative capacities.


























In 1988 Governor Dukakis appointed him to Deputy Commissioner of Veterans Services. He eventually became Acting Commissioner and in 1991 Governor Weld appointed him to Com-missioner, where he remained until retirement in 1999.

Tom appeared in a 1999 miniseries documentary, "The Korean War: Fire and Ice", aired by the History Channel.




















Tom Hudner is currently vice president of Battleship Cove, the USS Massachusetts war memorial and museum complex in Fall River.

He is living in Concord, Massachusetts, with his wife, Georgea. The Hudners have a son, Tom, who lives in Concord.  Georgea has three children from her prior marriage: Kelly, Stan and Shannon. Between them, the Hudners have 11 grandchildren.




Medal Of Honor

Lieutenant (J.G.) Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr., United States Navy

 Born: August 31, 1924
Fall River, MA

War:
Korean War

Rank:
Lieutenant (J.G.) U.S. Navy,
pilot in Fighter Squadron 32 attached to U.S.S. Leyte

Location of action:
Chosin Reservior area of Korea



Date of action:
December 4, 1950

Medal received from: President Harry Truman, April 13, 1951














Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Fighter Squadron 32, while attempting to rescue a squadron mate whose plane struck by

antiaircraft fire and trailing smoke, was forced down behind enemy lines. Quickly maneuvering to circle the downed pilot and protect him from enemy troops infesting the area, Lt. (J.G.) Hudner risked his life to save the injured flier who was trapped alive in the burning wreckage. Fully aware of the extreme danger in landing on the rough mountainous terrain and the scant hope of escape or survival in subzero temperature, he put his plane down skillfully in a deliberate wheels-up landing in the presence of enemy troops. With his bare hands, he packed the fuselage with snow to keep the flames away from the pilot and struggled to pull him free.

Unsuccessful in this, he returned to his crashed aircraft and radioed other airborne planes, requesting that a helicopter be dispatched with an ax and fire extinguisher. He then remained on the spot despite the continuing danger from enemy action and, with the assistance of the rescue pilot, renewed a desperate but unavailing battle against time, cold, and flames.

Lt. (J.G.) Hudner's exceptionally valiant action and selfless devotion to a shipmate sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

Note:
Lt. (J.G.) Thomas Hudner received the first Navy Medal Of Honor awarded in Korea.




























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Jesse LeRoy Brown

Jesse LeRoy Brown (October 13, 1926 – December 4, 1950) was the first African-American naval aviator in the United States Navy.

Jesse LeRoy Brown was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on October 13, 1926.




















Jesse Brown had grown up in Mississippi, was valedictorian at his high school, and attended Ohio State University. While at Ohio State, a naval officer encouraged him to apply to the Navy’s flight school. Jesse had always wanted to fly, so this became his goal.

He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1946 and was appointed a Midshipman, at the Ohio State University NROTC the following year. After attending Navy pre-flight school and flight training, he was designated a Naval Aviator in October 1948.


























Midshipman Brown was then assigned to Fighter Squadron 32. He received his commission as Ensign in April 1949.

During the Korean War, his squadron operated from USS Leyte (CV-32), flying F4U-4 Corsair fighters in support of United Nations forces.

On December 4 1950, while on a close air support mission near the Chosin Reservoir, Ensign Brown's plane was hit by enemy fire and crashed. Despite heroic efforts by other aviators, notably Lt (J.G.) Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., he could not be rescued and died in his aircraft.













Ensign Jesse L. Brown was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his Korean War combat service.

On March 18, 1972 the Navy christened a new member of its fleet: USS Jesse L. Brown (DE-1089)


















It was the first time in our Nation's history that a Naval vessel was named for a Black American.


















Daisy Brown and Thomas Hudner were there to remind us all of the brave young pilot for whom it was named.

The USS Jesse L. Brown (DE/FF/FFT-1089) was a Knox-class frigate of the US Navy. She was named for Jesse L. Brown, the first African-American naval aviator in the US Navy. Mrs. Gilbert W. Thorne, Ship's Sponsor. This ship was eventually decommissioned and sold to the Egyptian Navy and was renamed Damiyat (F961).







A dedication ceremony was held at the Naval Aviation Monument Park, located in Virginia Beach, May 5th, 2007 to remember Ensign Jesse Brown.

Retired Vice Adm. Dick Dunleavy welcomed Brown’s family and friends to the ceremony, each shared their own experiences with this pioneer in naval aviation.





















"Just hearing all these stories shows me how great of a man he was," said Jessica Knight, Brown’s grand- daughter. "What he did in life, helped inspire other African Americans."

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Ensign Jesse L. Brown was the U.S. Navy’s first black fleet and combat aviator.He served in the Korean War. He was flying in Fighter Squadron 32.  Ensign  Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions.

 During Ensign Brown’s time, Black people were considered too unintelligent to fly planes, but this did not stop Jessie Brown from reaching for his goal. He wanted to be a fighter pilot.

On Oct. 13 1948 Brown received his wings and became the Navy’s first Black fleet and combat aviator."He was like the Jackie Robinson of Naval aviation," said The Honorable B.J. Penn, assistant secretary of the Navy Installations and Environment at the Pentagon, referring to the first Black to play baseball and therefore open the eyes of the public to civil rights. "When you see someone being successful it only inspires you."

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"Jessie Brown found himself in the Korean War as a combat aviator, where he went down near the Chosin Reservoir. His wingmen immediately sent out a "Mayday" message and kept an eye out for enemy soldiers." - Thomas J. Hudner spoke of his friend and his courage and his love for his family and Country.

Retired Vice Adm. Dick Dunleavy welcomed Brown’s family and friends to the ceremony, each shared their own experiences with this pioneer in naval aviation.

"Just hearing all these stories shows me how great of a man he was," said Jessica Knight, Brown’s grand- daughter. "What he did in life, helped inspire other African Americans."




















Jessica Knight said she never got to know her grandfather, but said today’s ceremony shed some light on the type of person he was and the challenges he faced.

Jesse Brown may have passed away, but his memory lives on in the hearts of not only his family and friends, but all people. "His legacy has inspired all Blacks to reach for the stars," said Vice Adm. nominee Andy Winns, vice director for operations of The Joint Staff at the Pentagon. “He also paved the way for all Black aviators.