Awesome story from a guy on another forum

I just found out on the motorcycle forum I post at that one guy on there’s dad was a P-38 pilot in WWII.
I asked him about the picture of a guy in a cockpit in his avatar and he answered with this:

That photo is of 2nd Lt. Marvin H. Brown, 364th fighter group, 384th fighter squadron, of Gen. Jimmie Doolittle’s 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Corp, sitting in the cockpit of his P-38J fighter. That is my late father.
During his entire life, he never spoke much of his war experiences. After he passed in 1987, my brother Mike and I began researching his background and we were amazed at what we discovered.

http://www.web-birds.com/8th/364/364.html

He flew the P-38, and later his fighter group changed over to P-51 Mustangs, but he never got to fly one.
We knew he was shot dwn on May 22nd, 1944, while strafing a rougue German airfield after a bomber escort to Berlin. He crash landed his plane off the north coast, and was captured by the Germans. He was sent to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, where he was interrogated regularly and was among hundreds of captured British and American airmen. We still have his German -issued POW dog tags with SAGAN stamped on them.

http://www.b24.net/pow/stalag3.htm

In January of 1945, with the Russian armies closing in on Sagan, all POW’s were sent south on a grueling march, starving, thirsty, packed into railroad cars, being shot at by unknowing allied planes, eventually getting to Mooseburg where they spent the last months of the war. They were liberated by Patton’s 3rd Army on April 29th, 1945. After being liberated, he weighed in at a whopping 78 lbs.
After talking about it for a few weeks, Mike and I decided to write the Pentagon and request a Purple Heart for our Dad. He was injured badly when he crash landed his plane, and was forced to walk on a broken leg and multiple cracked ribs. To our amazement, the Purple Heart came by mail about a month later, along with a POW medal, and a letter to my family thanking my father for his service to our country. To put it mildly, we were blown away.
Why my Dad never talked much about his wartime experiences we don’t know, but I understand that it’s not unusal. I’ve heard this same thing from others who had parents who fought on WW II.
I still have my Dad’s Wings. I wear them on my vest when I ride, because he’s riding with me.
Thank you for inquiring. Terry

That is very cool! [8D]
A toast to all of the men of this man and my dad’s generation, as they were indeed “The Greatest Generation” [#toast]

Wow! What an awesome story.

People today just don’t know how good we have it in our country today becuase of men like that. And they don’t appreciate the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines we do have today.

Thanks for posting that.

Maybe this is a good place to post this.

I once asked a WWII veteran, POW, and pilot about his unit. He told me, and said, “They did not distinguish themselves.”

Hogwash.

Any man (or woman, now) who voluntarily places their body between their countrymen and “the war’s desolation” has distingushed themselves beyond our poor ability to recognize.

It does not matter when, or where, or what they did or did not do, so long as they did their duty. When you put on a military uniform, you are saying to the enemies of your people, “Shoot at me. I’ll shoot back.” Anyone with experience in such matters does not take this lightly.

[#ditto] Thanks for sharing this Mike[:D] I also agree with Ross. So what if their unit did not distinguish themselves. They were there putting their lives on the line & that’s my[2c]

Great story & piece of history Mike. Thanks for sharing.

Regards, Rick

I’ve had the honor of knowing a couple of vets. One was a sailor whom served aboard an escort carrier and fought in some of the biggest battles. I believe his carrier may have been struck by a Kamikaze. He was very taken aback by my WW II history and quite appreciative of his being recognized for his service.

Another vet that I met, was a soldier in the Pacific. He coldly told me about how this Japanese soldier came out of this bunker and shot him through the face. I asked him what happened after that. He cooly replied in his accent “I shot him dead!” Well, I said he was a very brave man. He said " Brave?!, Hell, I was scared %*^& less! Needless to say, so would I.

I was honored to meet Bud Anderson at the IPMS Phoenix Nationals in 2004.
To shake the hand and get an autographed book from an ace like Bud was indeed an honor.
His book and poster he signed for me are very special to me and I am proud to have met the man.
I wish I could have met Gabby Gabreski also but he passed away the year my dad passed away.
These great men are getting up in age and are passing away too fast now and taking a piece of history with them. I hope I can meet more before it is too late.

Incredible story Mike, many thanks for sharing it with us. A great piece of history about a great man. Darren.

Mike, A friend of mine just asked me to help find info on his Dad whom had been given a flightline comission by Jimmy Doolittle & flew P-38s, B-17s, -24s. Even flew -29s in Korea and the B-52 over Nam until 1966. I think it’s ironic that my friend asked this shortly after I read this thread[:D] I now have some place to start looking while waiting for him to get his Dad’s service records[#toast]

Thanks for sharing,that is an awesome story. My grandfather got to build a B-25 for a pilot from the Bats Outta Hell,got an autographed book and some good memories.

You guys are right about the passing of these veterans,I’m only 25,and most of the WW2 vets are older than my grandfather(73),and the chances to talk to them keep getting smaller.

I know what you mean Mike-- I feel the same way about my Robert Morgan signed print-- he was a graious man and I spent 15 minutes that I will never forget talking with him some years back at a airshow.

I wish I had taken the time to learn more about my dad’s experiences in WWII. He was a sailor on an LST during the invasion of southern France. He didn’t talk too much about the war either, but he did tell me about a radio-guided German plane that slammed into another LST right next to his. He said it burned throughout the night.

My dad passed away in 1986 at age 67. Being very young then, I never took the opportunity to learn more about what my father had done, and I very much regret it. I had only to ask him, and he would have told me. I just didn’t realize what I had at the time. He is very much missed.

Don’t let these opportunities pass by if your father or grandfather served. These men are priceless. What I wouldn’t do to have my dad back with me.

Bob

When I was a kid our landlord had a handyman that used to do some odd jods,he took a liking to me and after a while I found out he served in Russia with the 5 SS panzer division. I guess he noticed my models and that would get him talking a little. Hogan, I know what you mean , it would be so great to sit down and talk to this guy, I think his name was Hans. Don’t be too hard on yourself you know as much as you were supposed to about your dad. I lost my mother a year ago and there are things I wish I talked to her about and I was 37 and knew it was coming. You are right these guys are priceless and will be sorely missed.

My grandfather passed away in 1987-88 & I never had the pleasure of knowing him. (he divorced my grandmother before I was born) Anyways, I had found out he was a Sgt. in the USMC, assigned to Aviation Duty in the Pacific theater from 1943-45. I have yet to discover what squadron he was assigned[:(] or where exactly. He specialized in Aviation Electronics

Back in the late 80’s, the CAF flew their B-29 (Fifi) and B-24 (Diamond 'Lil) into the Tallahassee, FL, USA airport. I went out to see them.

When I was standing under the B-29, there was an old man in a wheel chair sitting under it, just looking up. An older woman, presumably his wife, was standing off to the side. A family was near him, and he started talking to them. His speech was slurred, which I guessed was from a stroke. The family seemed annoyed he was talking to them, and moved away. He hushed up.

I felt bad for the way they treated him. So I walked over, and standing under the open bomb bay, I said “Sure looks like they could hold a lot of ordnance in their.”

And in his slow, hard to understand speech, he started talking.

I listened as this man- this hero- told stories of being a bombadier on a B-29, of living in the South Pacific, of raids over Japan. He’d met “Tennessee” Ernie Ford, who he said was a -29 bombadier, too.

He recalled some of the people he knew, just first names, like Charlie and “ole Bud” and “some kid from San Diego”. Some of them brought tears, and others laughs. I honestly got teary eyed myself at times.

He even told about some odd group called the 509th Composite group, and he described to me watching a plane take off on the morning of August 6th- and he dramatically paused and said “That was the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.”

We talked a little more, and I thanked him for the stories and for all he did.

That family who was to busy to listen to an old man slowly tell his tale never knew what they missed. They were in the presence of a hero, a real hero, and ignored it because of a little slurred pseech and some liver spots.

Jon, I don’t know whether he said it or not, but he was probably very grateful that someone listened—probably the greatest gift anyone could give him, right then.

Most vets are uncomfortable with the tag, “hero”—they know too many other guys they think deserve it as much or more, and aren’t there to get it. Many, even those you can’t call anything less than heroes, will tell you they were just doing their duty—to their country, to the others in their unit, to their people. I appreciate that. It isn’t false modesty, either. Overuse cheapens the word and the concept behind it. The problem is, I don’t think english has another word that is fitting for these men and women.

Thanks for sharing that post with us Mike. Most people today have no idea what these men did and how much we owe them.

Eric

I agree. It’s almost impossible to find another word. It’s like we need a new word to replace “hero”, to restore it to it’s true meaning.

Jon, I am a member of the Yahoo B-29 group & have shared this with the group. I thought they would appreciate hearing of your chance meeting[:)] If I get any responses, I will let you know.
Eddie

it is wonderful to hear these stories from those who were there & they are true historians & have given us our freedom. Some have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Jon, here’s one response which I wanted to share with you

Message: 17
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:24:45 -0500
From: “John Dickerson” ka0mow@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Re: Fwd: Awesome story from a guy on another forum

I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to his stories, I am
sure it meant much to him and it did to you.

John in Ks

Here’s the group link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/B29-Superfortress/