Roger Bartlett Brown (1917 - 1944)

Born 28 Oct 1917 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Died 14 Jun 1944 at age 26 in Italy

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Biography

Roger Brown is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Army Air Force 100th Fighter Squadron 1943-1944
Tuskegee Airman flying Ace

Roger Brown was awarded the Purple Heart.

Roger was born in 1917 to Thomas Brown and Etta Sanders.^[1] He grew up in Glencoe, a suburb of Chicago, the youngest of four sons. He graduated from New Trier High School in 1935 and worked as a chauffeur before he was employed bu the Buick defense plant in Melrose Park.

He married Mabel O'Kelley in 1937.^[2] He enlisted in October of 1942^[3] In February of 1943, he entered the Tuskegee Air Pilot program, completing his training on Nov 3 of that same year. From there he was deployed to Ramitelli Air Field in Italy as part of the 100th Fighter Squadron with the 332nd Fighter Group.

On the 14th of June, 1944, Roger was on a training flight when his plane crashed into the Apennine mountains.^[4] William T Mattison was with Roger on that training flight, and he gave this accounting:

Lt. Brown was flying my wing and I noticed him dropping back. At the same time, I throttled back and I noticed his ship was smoking and increasing to a dense black smoke. He then was losing altitude.I told him to bail out, but I did not see him jump due to the scattered clouds and base. I saw his plane hit the ground and burst into flames. I circled three times trying to give the May Day and transmitting for a fix....The flight was above the clouds the entire trip until Lt. Brown went down. I told him to jump when he was about 5000 feet above the mountains, my altimeter was reading 9000 feet. We both went down through the clouds and I was only able to see the plane crash and burst into flame.

A search party was deployed, and although visibility was good, nothing was spotted that indicated that a plane had burned. The search lasted for two hours with no sign of Roger or his plane. His body was eventually recovered. He is buried in Sicily-Rome American Cemetery. ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSTJ-6CH : accessed 25 March 2021), Roger B Brown in household of Thomas W Brown Sr., New Trier, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 2207, sheet 29A, line 50, family 568, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 503; FHL microfilm 2,340,238.
2. ↑ "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q212-3MDD : 28 November 2018), Roger B Brown and Mabel O'Kelly, 17 Apr 1937; citing Marriage, Cook, Illinois, United States, citing Cook County Clerk. Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 102394201.
3. ↑ "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMXR-61P : 5 December 2014), Roger B Brown, enlisted 05 Oct 1942, Chicago, Illinois, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 1263923, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
4. ↑ MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) # 6922
5. ↑ https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/brown%3Droger

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56306962/roger-b-brown