David Brown was Monongahela’s first WWII casualty

This story is part of Mon Valley Sons of World War II, a series about our sons who lost their lives in service to our country during the war.

Staff Sgt. David H. Brown Jr.

By JOHN J. TURANIN
For the MVI

Suddenly and without warning, Monongahela’s David Brown was tossed side to side and then flipped upside down. Seated in the rear of their B-26 Marauder bomber just after takeoff, gunner Brown had no idea what was happening.

Only minutes after take-off, their training flight was heading straight into the bay at Tampa, Fla. There was nothing Brown could do as he became Mon City’s first loss during World War II. He was not the last.

The Brown family

David Henry Brown Jr. was born April 13, 1922, to David Henry Sr. and Harriet (née Hullihen) Brown in Wellsburg, W.Va. David Sr. served in the U.S. Army from June 1918 to April 1920 and was stationed at Camp Del Rio, Texas, before returning north. David Sr. and Harriet married in New Cumberland, W.Va. in 1921.

David Jr. was the first child born to the couple. His sister Junelda arrived in 1924, followed by Donald Robert (1927) and Ronald (1944). After David Jr. was born, the small family moved to McDonald, Pa., where Junelda was born. The family then moved to the Monongahela River Valley, where Donald was born in Charleroi.

Their father had been an operator for Western Pennsylvania Electric Company in 1930, but by 1940 he was working as a stationary engineer at American Steel and Wire in nearby Donora (a stationary engineer is responsible for the operation of industrial machinery). They were now living in a rented home at 417 Second St., in Monongahela, known as “Mon City” by the locals.

After completing his schooling at Monongahela High School, David Jr. joined the Pennsylvania National Guard sometime before 1939. He was a private in Mon City’s Company A of the 110th Infantry Regiment.

In August of that year, David traveled with the regiment to Manassas, Va., for two weeks of intensive training. He then went to live and work with his father’s relatives in Wellsburg, but returned to Mon City by April 1940.

The citizens of Monongahela monitored the burgeoning wars overseas. Germany had long been implementing the Third Reich political- military strategy of Fuhrer Adolph Hitler. They entered alliances with the like-minded leaders of Italy and Japan.

By the end of 1940, Germany had invaded Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Pursuing its own empire-building aspirations, Italy had expanded into Ethiopia and Albania and was invading France by 1940. Japan had assumed control over Korea from the Soviets in 1905, but by 1940, Japan had invaded China and French Indochina.

Anticipating the potential for the U.S. to be drawn into hostilities, the Selective Service and Training Act was passed by Congress in September 1940. The act established the first peacetime armed forces draft.

On Oct. 16, 1940, David joined millions of other young men and registered for the U.S. armed forces draft on its first day. He was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 146 pounds, and was working as an auto mechanic. When the draft lottery was called, his name drew a low number, 44. Entering the federal armed services seemed inevitable.

The U.S. enters WWII

The following year, Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the U.S. military bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. The U.S. declared war on Japan, and as an ally of the Japanese Empire, Germany declared war on the U.S.

On Jan. 13, 1942, David sidestepped the draft by enlisting with the U.S. Army Air Corps. He reported to Fort Thomas Newport, Ky., across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio, and was sent to Fort Knox, Ky., where he went to train as an aviation technician.

Twenty-eight men from Western Pennsylvania, including Pvt. David Brown, were transferred to the Air Force Technical School at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Miss., where they trained in the 19-week air mechanics program.

The Keesler program consisted of 11 phases with each phase taking 10 days. The phases covered aircraft maintenance fundamentals, aircraft structures, hydraulic systems, propellers, instruments, engines, electrical systems, fuel systems, engine operation and inspection of single and multi-engined aircraft. Pvt. David Brown graduated in June 1942.

The B-26 Marauder bomber

The following month, Pvt. Brown transferred to the Glenn Martin Aeroplane plant in Baltimore, Md. The Glenn Martin plant was building the U.S. Army Air Corps’ B-26 Marauder medium bomber, and Pvt. Brown was there to specialize in this twin-engined aircraft.

Although the B-26 could carry the same bomb load as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber, the B-26 carried less fuel, weight and crew, and it was intended for shorter range, tactical missions.

When initially introduced, the B-26 became known as “The Widowmaker” because of its high accident rates during take-off and landing. The aircraft became much safer as crews became

familiar with its tight operating conditions required for flight safety. More than 5,000 were eventually built during the war and saw combat service in all theaters of the war.

In July 1942, Pvt. Brown enjoyed a short furlough and traveled to Mon City to visit his parents. He completed his training by the end of July, and reported to MacDill Air Field in Tampa, Fla., where he joined the 21st Bombardment Group, Medium, for assignment to an air crew and to train for combat in the B-26.

The 21st was terminated in August 1942 and crews were transferred to the newly activated 344th Bombardment Group, Medium, in September 1942, still at MacDill.

Pvt. Brown was eventually promoted to the rank of staff sergeant and was assigned to the B-26 crew of 2nd Lt. John E. Williams in the 344th’s 495th Bomb Squadron to continue combat training.

Brown received specialized training in aerial gunnery using the aircraft’s 50-caliber machine guns, and he was William’s primary defensive aerial gunner. His position was in the rear of the aircraft where he could operate the twin 50-cal machine guns in the top gun turret, the single 50-cal guns on each side (or waist), the single 50-caliber gun in the tunnel/belly or the twin 50-cal guns located in the tail of the aircraft.

A training mission goes wrong

On Dec. 8, 1942, 2nd Lt. Williams and his crew of five took off from MacDill Field at 1212 hrs for a training mission aboard their B-26B serial No. 41-17789 for a formation flight and simulated bombing mission with another B-26. But a few minutes after take off, catastrophe struck.

According to the U.S. Army Air Corps: “Shortly after taking off, the bomber began a turn to the left in a climbing attitude. From here on, the ship was seen flying to the northeast in a skid to the right before going into a violent yaw to the left with nose coming up higher all the time. It was then seen to stall and rollover into a spin to the left. It crashed into shallow water in Hillsboro Bay (the northeast part of Tampa Bay), one mile northeast of MacDill Field. The whole crew was killed.

“When the wreck was examined, it was found that the fuel pump drive shaft of the port engine was broken. The committee investigating this accident concluded that the crash was caused by a loss of power on the left engine due to failure of the fuel pump shaft and the fact that the pilot pulled the nose up until the B-26 stalled and spun.”

Seated in the rear section of the aircraft, Brown had no idea what was happening in such a brief amount of time. With his technical training, he may have recognized that the “violent yaw to the left” meant that the left engine had suddenly lost power, and the right engine was being compensated for that loss of power.

To their horror, more than 100 soldiers and civilian employees at Mac-Dill witnessed the crash.

The family of Staff Sgt. David H. Brown Jr., was informed of his death the next day. He was just 20 years of age. Two crew members, pilot 2LT Williams and radio operator Staff Sgt. Samuel Lamond, were recent bridegrooms (of two weeks and three months, respectively).

David H. Brown Jr. remembered

Staff Sgt. David H. Brown Jr. was buried at Monongahela Cemetery on Dec. 14, 1942, with full military honors. Members of Company A, 110th Infantry Regiment, who were home on furlough, acted as pall bearers for the funeral procession. Half-masted American flags lined the city’s Main Street that day.

The name of David H. Brown Jr. is engraved on the Veterans Honor Roll Memorial on West Main Street in Monongahela.

The crew of B-26 No. 41-17789 were pilot 2nd Lt. John E. Williams, co-pilot 2LT Clarence O. Parsons, bombardier/ navigator 2nd Lt. Norman J. Linne, flight engineer Staff Sgt. John Mazzarino, radio operator Sgt. Samuel G. Lamond and aerial gunner Staff Sgt. David H Brown Jr.

John J. Turanin is a retired Western Pennsylvanian, a grandson of the Mon Valley and an author. His new book is “Tin Men Steel Soldiers: The price paid in WWII by a Pennsylvania mill town: True stories of the lives and losses of 81 men is about Monessen, PA.” It will be presented by the author at Monessen Public Library at 11 a.m. Sept. 20. John is one of hundreds of volunteers with the nonprofit organization Stories Behind The Stars who are writing memorial stories for every one of the 421,000 U.S. service members and 31,000 Pennsylvanians who lost their lives during WWII. Those interested in joining the effort are encouraged to visit www.StoriesBehindTheStars.org.