Richard A Brown

U.S. Army

Technical Sergeant

Service # 11097235

Richard Alonzo Brown grew up in Knox County in coastal Maine. His father, Alfred A. Brown had worked for a trolley company and Central Maine Power, but in 1938 at the age of 36 he decided to turn to farming to support his wife Vivian and sons Laroy and Richard. He moved the family to Thomaston and seems to have raised chickens as he was in the “egg business.” Richard went to high school in Thomaston, graduating in 1941. The 5'10" 142 pound 19-year-old enlisted in the Air Corps on September 12, 1942. Although he could drive cars, trucks, and farm equipment, he was more interested in flying. The corps sent him to the aerial gunnery school at Harlington Army Air Field in Texas. By early January 1943 he and 6 other men from Maine had qualified as aerial gunners and received their silver wings.

The year and a half was spent refining his skills as a gunner, specifically a top turret gunner, acquiring the skills of a flight engineer, specifically monitoring the mechanical systems though the plane, and learning to work seamlessly with the other members of the crew on a specific type of airplane. He was assigned to the crew of Lt. William Woodson, and they trained on B-17 bombers. The plane could fly long distances at an altitude of 25,000 feet or higher. Three months before his bomb squadron, the 358th, was deployed to a base in England , he married Majorie Lucille Wiggen of South Thomaston Maine. The wedding took place in Highlands County Florida, which suggests his flight crew was training at a nearby airfield that month. Marjorie was notified in early February 1945 that her husband of 6 months was missing in action. The missing crew report indicates that the plane went down after being hit by flak when it was part of a bombinh mission to Sterkrade, Germany. Only two parachutes were seen by others in the group before the plane exploded. It is not clear when the MIA status was changed to KIA or when the army learned which of the two men who survived the crash were POWs, but presumably that occurred during the next 4 or 5 months.

Marjorie remarried in 1947, so when the military was consolidating the graves of the fallen it contacted Richard’s father Albert. He elected to have his son’s remains stay in Europe. Technical Sergeant Richard A. Brown is buried in the American military cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. In November 1947 Thomaston Maine dedicated a memorial to the men from the town who died during the war; T/Sgt. Brown is listed among them.

Richard’s brother Laroy also served in World War II and was a lieutenant stationed in Italy when his brother died. He returned home safely after the war ended.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at ceheditor@aol.com or email feedback@storiesbehindthestars.org

Sources:

Maine Birth Records, 1715-1922—ancestry.com

U.S. Federal Census, 1930—ancestry.com

U.S. Federal Census, 1940—ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946—ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954—ancestry.com

U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949—ancestry.com

U.S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945—ancestry.com

Portland [Maine] Press Herald, June 8, 1943; February 15, 1943, November 12, 1947—newspapers.com

SBTSProject/Maine/KnoxCounty

Brown, Richard A., TSgt