1st black naval aviator remembered

Ensign Jesse Brown died on a mountainside in North Korea, a long way from his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss., where he realized that he wanted to be a pilot. Brown ended up making history. It was the first African-American naval aviator. His assignment with Fighter Squadron 32, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Leyte, 65 years ago this month was a milestone in the struggle for civil rights. "He didn't set out to be a hero, but that's what he was,” said Brown’s daughter Pamela Knight. “He had the fortitude to go out and do what he wanted to do, and he didn't let anything stop him." As a child, he would watch “enthralled” from the family’s sharecropper farm as pilots training for WWII would glide over the fields suddenly firing up the engines while directly overhead and "scare the hell out of us," said brother, Fletcher Brown, 83. Jesse would say: “He was going to do that one day." On his 20th combat mission in Korea, the plane fuel line and oil tank were compromised by small arms near the Chosin Reservoir. He crash-landed the aircraft on a mountain top and pinned in the wreckage. Wingman Lt. Thomas Hudner could tell from the air Brown was alive. He also crash-landed his plane to try and save Brown. Hudner and a helicopter crew were unable to save Brown. But the wing man’s action garnered him the Medal of Honor. "I want the world to know that he was indeed a … great man," Fletcher Brown said. "Had he not been, he couldn't have accomplished what he accomplished. It took a lot of chutzpah to do what he did." The legacy lives. Today, the military is one of the most progressive institutions in the country when it comes to racial diversity. Jesse Brown's name is well known by aviation and military enthusiasts. (Source: Clarion Ledger, 01/24/15)