Harold Brown (Tuskegee Airman): Difference between revisions

Dr. Harold Brown (born 19xx) is a retired U.S. Army Air Force officer and former African-American fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group, known affectionately as the Tuskegee Airmen or "Red Tails." He is one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots. On Brown's 30th mission in Europe during World War II, he was shot down over enemy territory. After bailing out of his badly damaged P-51, the Germans captured Brown, imprisoning him for two months at a prisoner of war (POW) camp south of Nuremberg, and later at Stalag Luft VII-A prisoner of war camp near Moosburg, Germany, 30 kilometers north of Munich, Germany. Brown was liberated when General George Patton rolled into the camp in a tank on April 29, 1945.

He is the co-author of “Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman,” cowritten by Brown's wife, Dr. Marsha S. Bordner.

Brown — along with every member of the Tuskegee Airmen — received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.

Early life

Brown was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His parents were Talladega, Alabama, later moving to Minnesota to escape Jim Crow segregation and vitriolic racial violence and white supremacy that ravaged the Southern United States.

As a 16 year old junior at North High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Brown invested his dreams to become a pilot by spending $35 in savings to take flight lessons. Though his mother was angry for his expenditure, Brown's father defended Brown's decision as a prudent decision made of Brown's own volition. Though the neighborhood kids would tease and call him "Lindbergh,” Brown would come to appreciate the role his early flight lessons played in earning him an opportunity to become a World War II combat pilot.

Military Career, Tuskegee Airmen, Time as Prisoner of War

In 1944, Brown graduated from Tuskegee's pilot training program with Class XXXXX, receiving his wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.

Brown was assigned to the all-African American 332nd Fighter Group, best known as the "Tuskegee Airmen" or "Red Tails. He would fly P-51 Mustang fighters in Italy and Western Europe.

On Brown's 30th mission in Europe during World War II, he was shot down over enemy territory. After bailing out of his badly damaged P-51, the Germans captured Brown in the same city where Brown destroyed a train with his aircraft guns. As the German soldiers marched Brown to a crowd of angry townspeople clamoring to kill him, Brown assumed the worst. “I was looking death right in the face,” he said. “They had even selected what looked like the perfect hanging tree—I just accepted the fact, ‘Harold you are going to die’, and that is not an easy thing.” Fortunately, a German constable demanded that Brown be treated as a prisoner of war, sparring Brown from being summarily executed. Years later, Brown would learn that fellow Red Tails pilot, Walter P. Manning,was beaten severely and lynched by a local mob after the Germans shot down his aircraft and captured and jailed him near [[Linz, Austria] at a Nazi Luftwaffe Air Force base.

The Germans imprisoned Brown for two months, first at a prisoner of war (POW) camp south of Nuremberg, Germany, and later at the multinational Stalag Luft VII-A prisoner of war camp near Moosburg, Germany, 30 kilometers north of Munich, Germany. Brown was liberated by General George Patton on April 29, 1945.

Later Life

After World War II, Brown served in the Korean War and later in a post at Strategic Air Command during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He retired in 1965 as a Lieutenant Colonel after 23 years of active duty service. Findlay University. "Tuskegee Airman, German POW Survivor to Give Free, Public Presentation. Joy Brown. APRIL 2, 2018. </ref>

Brown worked as an instructor at Clark Technical College, and Gaston College, and as an instructor and chairman of the electronics department at Columbus Area Technician School (later chartered as Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio) while earning a master’s degree and Ph.D. in vocational-technical education from Ohio State University. Brown would become Columbus Area Technician School's vice president, helping it to grow from 500 students to nearly 9,000 students over the course of two decades.

Brown was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Findlay. In 2013, Heidelberg University awarded Brown an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Brown later founded Brown & Associates, an educational consulting firm that he ran for 26 years until his age 88.

Dr. Brown lives in Port Clinton, Ohio near Lake Erie.

Book

Brown is the co-author of “Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman,” co-written by Brown's wife, Dr. Marsha S. Bordner.

References

[[Category:People from Minnesota]