REMEMBERING
ROBERT W. BROWN

By Joe C. Fling

The tiny village of Lissie gave more than its share to the effort in World War II. Among those who gave their lives with ties to this tiny hamlet were Billy Cook, Johnnie D. Hutchins and Robert W. Brown. In addition Preston Brasher and Everitt Wright had lived in the Lissie/Chesterville area.

Robert W. Brown, Jr. was born at Sheridan and moved to Lissie as a small child. Like most of the others from Lissie who were killed in the war, Robert attended school in Eagle Lake, where he graduated in 1940.

Brown enlisted in the Army Air Corps on October 14, 1940 and must have performed well. Most of the men who became pilots in World War II had had some college, but Brown had not. Nevertheless he was recommended for officer's candidate school and became a multi-engine pilot. His training included the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. As before, I recommend Stephen Ambrose's The Wild Blue. There is no better book on the mechanics and operation of the B-24; the character of the men who flew them; and the importance of their missions against Nazi Germany. Read this book and you will understand what Robert W. Brown and men like him did. How unnerving and physically demanding it was to pilot the huge Liberator. How unrelenting and dangerous the missions against Nazi targets were.

The Heavy bombers were one of America's primary ways of taking the war to the enemy. They performed tactical and strategic bombing and delivered fear, perhaps even a more palpable weapon than their 1,000 pound bombs. The bombers flew on missions of over 1000 miles, which took as much as 12 hours to fly; and struck fear deep into the heart of Nazi Germany and its conquered territories.

Brown's outfit, the 515th Bomber Squadron of the 376th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force left the United States and arrived in North Africa in November, 1943. Brown would have been involved in missions similar to those in which Bill Foster of Garwood lost his life that same month. The Americans had jumped from North Africa to Sicily and on to Italy. Soon Brown's squadron was transferred to a new Italian base.

On December 20, 1943, Brown's plane participated in a bombing mission over eastern Bulgaria. His aircraft came under anti-aircraft fire, then collided with an enemy fighter in mid-air and fell to earth.

A notice came from the War Department listing Brown as missing in action over Bulgaria. Brown's death was later confirmed. He was survived by his parents, his wife of Blytheville, Arkansas, and a sister Esther Raasch of Lissie. Brown is buried in the American Cemetery in Florence, Italy. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal.

Robert W. Brown was an exemplary young man. His peers and superiors recognized this and entrusted him with a mighty battle machine and a crew of men under his care. The U.S. Air Army Air Corps entrusted to hundreds of men like Brown the mission of strategic bombing: the breaking of the Nazis ability and will to make war. His name is recorded on the Wharton County Veterans monument and the plaque of the dead from Eagle Lake High School, now on display at the Prairie Edge Museum but not elsewhere. Men like this saved the world, and preserved the freedoms that we all hold so dear. We must not forget them.