Dedication ceremony to remember Ensign Jesse Brown
5 May 2007

NAVAL AVIATION MONUMENT PARK
25TH STREET & ATLANTIC AVE.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA

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Dedication Ceremony for Jesse Brown.

A dedication ceremony was held at the Naval Aviation Monument Park, located in Virginia Beach, May 5th, 2007 to remember Ensign Jesse Brown.

PHOTOS DURING THE DEDICATION CEREMONY

Hudner, Koenig, Deputy Sec. of the Navy         Speech by Thomas Hudner.

NAVAL AVIATION MONUMENT PARK AT NIGHT

Naval Avaition Monument Park photo 1     Naval Avaition Monument Park photo 2     Naval Avaition Monument Park photo 3     Naval Avaition Monument Park photo 4

Photographer: Janet Koenig Picinich

Remembering a Pioneer of Naval Aviation

By MC3 Patrick Grieco - Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic:

    A dedication ceremony was held at the Naval Aviation Monument Park, located in Virginia Beach, May 5th, 2007 to remember Ensign Jesse Brown.
    Retired Vice Adm. Dick Dunleavy welcomed Brown’s family and friends to the ceremony, each shared their own experiences with this pioneer in naval aviation.
"Just hearing all these stories shows me how great of a man he was," said Jessica Knight, Brown’s granddaughter. "What he did in life, helped inspire other African Americans."
    Brown was the Navy’s first Black fleet and combat aviator and casualty of the Korean War while flying in Fighter Squadron 32. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions.
    Knight said she never got to know her grandfather, but said today’s ceremony shed some light on the type of person he was and the challenges he faced.
    During Brown’s time, Blacks were considered too unintelligent to fly planes, but this did not stop him from reaching for his goal. He wanted to be a fighter pilot.
On 13 Oct. 1948 Brown received his wings and became the Navy’s first Black fleet and combat aviator.
"He was like the Jackie Robinson of Naval aviation," said The Honorable B.J. Penn, assistant secretary of the Navy Installations and Environment at the Pentagon, referring to the first Black to play baseball and therefore open the eyes of the public to civil rights. "When you see someone being successful it only inspires you."
    Two years later, Brown found himself in the Korean War as a combat aviator, where he went down near the Chosin Reservoir. His wingmen immediately sent out a "Mayday" message and kept an eye out for enemy soldiers.
"We were scared, we thought he was dead," said Capt. (Ret.) Thomas Hudner, Brown’s wingman and friend.
    Ushing to his friend’s need, Hudner landed his plane onto the ground and headed for his fellow aviator. Hudner said Brown appeared cold and in pain. Brown calmly told him that they needed to leave and fast.
    After several attempts to rescue him, Brown finally gave into his injuries. "I told him, we’d come back for him, I don’t know if he heard me," said Hudner. "I just know he stopped talking and stopped moving. We had no choice, but to leave him there."
    Brown may have passed away, but his memory lives on in the hearts of not only his family and friends, but all people. "His legacy has inspired all Blacks to reach for the stars," said Vice Adm. nominee Andy Winns, vice director for operations of The Joint Staff at the Pentagon. “He also paved the way for all Black aviators."
    In 1973, the Navy honored Brown by naming a frigate after him, USS Jesse L. Brown (FFT 1089).

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