67 Bomb Squadron, 44 Bomb Group (H)

"Bet you never knew you had a Lindbergh in the family."

Richard Carroll Brown was born May 16, 1920 in Hamilton, NY to Daniel D. Brown (1894-1950) from Binghamton, NY and Kathryn C. Brown nee Carroll (1893-1956) from the Irish Free State. According to the 1930 U.S. Census, he had an older brother Daniel and two older sisters, Dorothy M. and Margaret H. (Daniel was also killed in World War II. His plane was lost over Italy) and they lived on Chester Ave. in Oneonta, NY. His father was a Detective for the Railroad, which had a large presence in Oneonta at that time. By 1940 U.S. Census records show him 18 years old, still living on Chester Ave. in Oneonta. He had a younger brother, Robert, by then, and his sister Margaret had married Stuart Harrington and they had a daughter Patricia whom all lived at 5 Chester Ave.

Air Corp physical examination records show Richard had Whooping cough, mumps, measles and chickenpox in childhood. He also had his Tonsils out as a child. He had Pneumonia and Trench mouth in 1932. He broke his right ankle in 1936 (playing football no doubt). Richard graduated from Oneonta High School in 1937 and was a member of the varsity baseball, football, track and basketball teams. He also played basketball and tennis at the State Teachers College in Oneonta.

He enlisted in the Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet on January 15, 1942 in Albany, NY. He received his commission on July 26, 1942 at Stockton, California with serial number O-727161. During WWII, Stockton Field was garrisoned by the 68th Air Base Group (Special) under the Air Corps Advance Flying School. He also spends time in August 1942 at Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma. While stationed in Oklahoma he married the former Miss Katherine Plaus, from Schenectady, NY a senior at Oneonta State Teachers College. He is assigned to the 67th Bomber Squadron, 44th Bomber Group, 8th Air Force and shortly thereafter flies to England.

In February of 1943 he is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross serving as a co-pilot for “Maggie” a Liberator which was credited with “knocking down two German fighters and sharing in a third“ while on bomber sweeps over France. His father learned of his son's heroics while listening to the local radio. “There we were listening to the radio”, said his dad,”when all of a sudden I nearly jumped out of my chair. They were telling about Dick way over there in England being decorated, and it was quite a thrill.” Newspapers of the day were full of Maggie's feats referring to the Liberators as “streaking across the English channel with RAF fighter escorts” to pound Dunkirk and then the very next day plastering the St. Nazaire submarine base. The Brown family had much to be proud of.

Location He Was Lost

Just a month later, on March 22, 1943, 1st Lt. Brown was part of a 10-man crew on B-24 No. 41-23832 on a bombing run over Wilhelmshaven Germany. There was an enemy ship yard there. According to S/Sgt. Lester G. Klug, one of the two members to survive this mission, after taking damage before and after the bombing run, it was necessary for the crew to bail out over the North Sea near the Island of Alte Mellum. To S/Sgt. Klug’s knowledge none of the crew was injured prior to bailing out and all chutes were accounted for in the air. After coming down in very rough seas, Klug stated he lost consciousness and was picked up by an enemy patrol boat. Two days after his capture, now in a German hospital on Helgoland, he identified the bodies of five of the aircrew. None of the survivors, nor those he identified were Lt. Brown. Lt. Richard C. Brown was presumed killed in action. His body was never recovered.

A more detailed account of this incident can be read in the “Richard C Brown Disposition Document” in the Sources area of this Memorial. He is memorialized in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial,Margraten, Eijsden-Margraten Municipality, Limburg, Netherlands. His name in etched on a plague that is mounted outside the main office in his local high school in Oneonta, NY.

If you notice anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at nez13820 at gmail dot com or feedback@storiesbehindthestars.org.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (http://storiesbehindthestars.org) This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen.. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SBTS Project/New York /Otsego

Sources:

Year:1940; Census Place:Oneonta, Otsego, New York; Roll:m-t0627-02717; Page:8B; Enumeration District:39-32

Year:1930; Census Place:Oneonta, Otsego, New York; Page:8B; Enumeration District:0027; FHL microfilm:2341370

Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56297159/richard-carroll-brown, accessed July 20, 2022.

History California Posts, Campus, Stations and Airfields, accessed July 20, 2022 at http://militarymuseum.org/StocktonField.html

Brown, Richard C., O-727,161 1st Lt. Air Corps Germany, photocopy of manila folder including images of official documents on status of recovery of body. 85 pages.

Lt. Richard Brown Reported Missing in European Area, The Oneonta Herald, April 1, 1943.

Oneonta flying Cadet To Graduate Soon, Oneonta Herald, July 23, 1942.

Lt. R.C. Brown Oneonta, Wins Flying Cross, Oneonta Herald, Feb 25, 1943.