February 24, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the Navy commissioned a destroyer on April 1, 2017, and named it after a man who deliberately crash-landed a perfectly good aircraft behind enemy lines. But the man who became the first American serviceman in the Korean War to receive the Medal of Honor—and the man who lent his name to the USS Thomas Hudner had a darn good reason, perhaps the best of reasons. Here’s the History Guy with the story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American Stories. Up next, a
story that comes to us from a man who's simply
known as the History Guy. His videos are watched by
hundreds of thousands of people of all ages all over YouTube.
The History Guy has also heard here at our American Stories.
It might seem like an April fool's joke. The Navy
(00:31):
commissioned its newest destroyer in April one, twenty seventeen, and
named it after a man who deliberately crash landed a
perfectly good aircraft behind enemy lines. Here's the History Guy
with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The beginning of October nineteen fifty, United Nations troops were
moving deep into North Korea, and it seemed that the
Korean War would be over soon. You and commanders felt
that there was a good chance that the Koreas would
be reunited by the end of the year. But everything
changed on October nineteenth, when the Chinese decided to enter
the war. The UN forces were caught off guard by
(01:17):
the Chinese offensive, and by November, some thirty thousand United
Nations troops, US Marines and soldiers, as well as troops
from the United Kingdom and South Korea, were surrounded by
one hundred and twenty thousand Chinese troops near a man
made lake called the Chosen Reservoir. Among those participating in
the battle were flyers from the US Navy that were
(01:37):
flying close support missions from nearby aircraft carriers. The bought
f for U four corsairs of Task Force seventy seven
flew mission after mission in support of the outnumbered UN troops.
Among the pilots of Task Force seventy seven were Insign
Jesse L. Brown and Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas J. Hudner Junior.
They were wingmen and friends despite coming from very different backgrounds.
(02:05):
Jesse Leroy Brown was born October thirteenth, nineteen twenty six,
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, one of six children of an impoverished
family who lived in a home that had neither central
heating nor indoor plumbing. Brown was of African American, Chickasaw
and Choctaw heritage. He was an unlikely candidate to become
a US Naval aviator, evidenced by the fact that prior
to Brown, no African American had ever done so. Thomas J.
(02:33):
Hudner Junior came from the other side of the tracks.
Born in August thirty first, nineteen twenty four in Fall River, Massachusetts,
where Brown's father worked at a grocery warehouse. Hunter's father
owned a chain of grocery stores. Whereas Brown walked to
school at a one room schoolhouse, Hudner attended an elite
preparatory school called Phillips Academy. Although coming from different worlds,
(02:54):
they were both star athletes who would follow different paths
to become naval aviators. Brown, who was described as serious, witty, unassuming,
and very intelligent, wanted to become a pilot from a
young age and grew up reading about the exploits of
flyers like Eugene Ballard and Bessie Coleman. Hudner was inspired
to join the Navy by a speech by the Phillips
(03:14):
Academy head master following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Brown attended Ohio State University, a university where African Americans
were still a rarity. His advisers had suggested that he
attended historically black college, but he felt he could compete
with white students and sought the more prestigious degree. He
studied architectural engineering and in his junior year undered the
(03:35):
Navy's Aviation Cadet program. The program worked with universities to
train naval aviators, but the program did not operate in
any historically black colleges. The only way for an African
American to get into the program was to be like Brown,
the rare African American at a primarily white university. Hudner
obtained entry into the United States Naval Academy, graduating in
(03:57):
nineteen forty six, too late for the Second World War.
Among his classmates at Annapolis was future US President Jimmy Carter.
He was not initially interested in becoming a pilot, and
upon graduation served on the cruiser US Helena and at
Naval Base Pearl Harbor. In nineteen forty eight, he applied
for flight school, seeking a new challenge, Brown enlisted in
(04:18):
the US Naval Reserve in nineteen forty six and joined
Ohio State's Naval Reserve Officer's Trading program. The stipend from
the RTC helped him to finish financing his degree. He
was still facing an uphill climb, however. Of the sum
fifty six hundred n ROTC cadets nationwide in nineteen forty seven,
only fourteen were black. When he band training as a
(04:39):
naval flight officer in March. Brown was the only black
man in the program. In October nineteen forty eight, he
became the first black man in US history to earn
his naval aviator badge. The achievement was noted nashly and
it was profile by both the Associated Press and Life magazine.
Hudner qualified as a naval aviator in August nineteen forty nine.
(05:00):
Both men were assigned to Navy Fighter Squadron VF thirty two,
station aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Right. In August
nineteen fifty, VF thirty two, including the two now experienced pilots,
was moved to the Essex class carrier USS Layte, bound
for Korea, driving off the Korean Peninsula in October. The
(05:21):
pilots aboard USS Leyte were conducting dozens of missions every day,
attacking Chinese positions with rockets, bombs, and nepal. On December fourth, sixth,
aircraft of VF thirty two, under the command of the
squadron executive officer, took off on a search and destroy
mission over chosen. Padner and Brown were among the six pilots.
The pilots flew low seven hundred feet, looking for targets
(05:43):
and probing Chinese positions. During the course of the mission,
Brown radioed, I think I may have been hit. I'm
losing fuel pressure. One of the other pilots noticed that
Brown's plane seemed to be trailing fuel. The cause was
likely small arms of fire. Chinese troops were trained to
fire in concert at aircraft, and someone had gotten a
lucky hit. Losing fuel pressure, Brown's plane was never going
to make it back to the layte. He had no
(06:05):
choice but to crash land the plane. Hudner, Brown's wingman,
followed him down as Brown crash landed in a bowl
shaped valley some fifteen mile behind enemy lines around three pm.
It was a hard crash. The fuselage buckled and the
nose of the plane twisted underneath. The wreckage hunter waited
to see Brown exit the cockpit, but Brown did not
climb out. The pilots could see Brown waving his arms.
(06:27):
The rest of the pilots were circling, trying to do
what they could for Brown. Their presence may have held
the Chinese at bay. The squadron was told that a
rescue helicopter had been dispatched, but Hunter could he smoke
starting to bellow from Brown's plane. His wingman, his friend
was trapped in the plane, and it was catching fire.
Hudner knew that Brown would not survive in time for
(06:49):
the helicopter to arrive. He made a desperate decision. He radioed,
I'm going in. Standing orders were clear. If one plane crashed,
a pilot was not allowed to risk another plane to
try to save it. Hadner knew that he risked his
career and his life when he performed a wheels up
or belly landing in the snow near Brown's aircraft. The
(07:10):
two were more than wingman, They were friends. Brown had
married his high school sweetheart, Daisy Pearl Nicks, while he
was still in flight school. They had married in secrets,
since pilot cadets were not supposed to marry until they
completed their training. Their daughter, Pamela elist Brown, was just
two years old. When he reached Brown's plane, he found
Brown severely injured and lapsing in and out of consciousness.
(07:32):
The control panel had collapsed as the fuselage buckled, trapping
Brown's leg. Hunter desperately tried to free Brown but had
no luck. He pulled off his scarf and wrapped around
Brown's freezing hands, and Hunter used his own hands to
shovel snow at the Brown's engine, dousing the fire. Unable
to free Brown, he went back to his plane and
radium for the helicopter to bring an axe to help
free Brown. When the helicopter arrived, Hudner and the helicopter pilot,
(07:56):
Lieutenant Charles Ward, worked for forty five minutes with an axe,
trying to free Brown, but without luck. Throughout, Brown remained calm,
the fact that was said to be comforting to Hudner,
but the cold and blood loss was draining Brown. Before
he slipped into unconsciousness, he said to Hudner, tell Daisy
how much I love her. I will, Hudner replied, but
(08:17):
it was growing dark and the helicopter could not operate
after dark. Hudner and Ward had to leave. As he
reluctantly left, Hudner yelled back, We'll be back for you.
It isn't clear if Brown was still alive, but he
could not have lasted long in the freezing cold. Hudner
wanted to go back the next day to retrieve Brown's remains,
(08:40):
but the Navy decided it was just too dangerous. That
the Chinese troops soon nearby. In order to prevent the
Chinese from recovering Brown's body, as well as the wrecks
of the two course airs, the squadron Druc napalm over
the site two days later. As they did, one of
the pilots recited the Lord's Prayer. Twenty four year old
jesse Leroy Brown, the United States Navy's first black aviator,
(09:01):
also became the first US black naval officer to die
in the Korean War. Hunter fully expected to be court martialed,
but the captain of the late he decided instead decorate him.
He said in a message to the press, there has
been no finer action of unselfish heroism in military history.
(09:22):
On April thirteenth, nineteen fifty one, Hudner was awarded the
Medal of Honor for his attempt to save Brown. Daisy
Brown was at the ceremony, and the award was presented
by President Truman, who was said to have remarked, they
would rather have been awarded the Medal of Honor than
become a president. Jesse L. Brown, who broke the color
barrier for US naval aviation, inspired an entire new generation
(09:45):
of black aviators. He was possibly awarded the Purple Heart,
the Air Medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Tom Hudner,
who eventually reached the rank of captain, remained in close
contact with Brown's widow, Daisy throughout her life. She passed
away in twenty fourteen at the age of eighty seven.
(10:05):
Thomas J. Hudner, junior recipient of the Medal of Honor,
passed away in November of twenty seventeen at the age
of ninety three.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Greg Hengler and a special thanks to the History Guy
for sharing this remarkable piece of American history. The story
of Medal of Honor recipient who crashed his plane on
purpose to save his down wingman. Here on our American
Stories
And we continue with our American Stories. Up next, a
story that comes to us from a man who's simply
known as the History Guy. His videos are watched by
hundreds of thousands of people of all ages all over YouTube.
The History Guy has also heard here at our American Stories.
It might seem like an April fool's joke. The Navy
(00:31):
commissioned its newest destroyer in April one, twenty seventeen, and
named it after a man who deliberately crash landed a
perfectly good aircraft behind enemy lines. Here's the History Guy
with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The beginning of October nineteen fifty, United Nations troops were
moving deep into North Korea, and it seemed that the
Korean War would be over soon. You and commanders felt
that there was a good chance that the Koreas would
be reunited by the end of the year. But everything
changed on October nineteenth, when the Chinese decided to enter
the war. The UN forces were caught off guard by
(01:17):
the Chinese offensive, and by November, some thirty thousand United
Nations troops, US Marines and soldiers, as well as troops
from the United Kingdom and South Korea, were surrounded by
one hundred and twenty thousand Chinese troops near a man
made lake called the Chosen Reservoir. Among those participating in
the battle were flyers from the US Navy that were
(01:37):
flying close support missions from nearby aircraft carriers. The bought
f for U four corsairs of Task Force seventy seven
flew mission after mission in support of the outnumbered UN troops.
Among the pilots of Task Force seventy seven were Insign
Jesse L. Brown and Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas J. Hudner Junior.
They were wingmen and friends despite coming from very different backgrounds.
(02:05):
Jesse Leroy Brown was born October thirteenth, nineteen twenty six,
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, one of six children of an impoverished
family who lived in a home that had neither central
heating nor indoor plumbing. Brown was of African American, Chickasaw
and Choctaw heritage. He was an unlikely candidate to become
a US Naval aviator, evidenced by the fact that prior
to Brown, no African American had ever done so. Thomas J.
(02:33):
Hudner Junior came from the other side of the tracks.
Born in August thirty first, nineteen twenty four in Fall River, Massachusetts,
where Brown's father worked at a grocery warehouse. Hunter's father
owned a chain of grocery stores. Whereas Brown walked to
school at a one room schoolhouse, Hudner attended an elite
preparatory school called Phillips Academy. Although coming from different worlds,
(02:54):
they were both star athletes who would follow different paths
to become naval aviators. Brown, who was described as serious, witty, unassuming,
and very intelligent, wanted to become a pilot from a
young age and grew up reading about the exploits of
flyers like Eugene Ballard and Bessie Coleman. Hudner was inspired
to join the Navy by a speech by the Phillips
(03:14):
Academy head master following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Brown attended Ohio State University, a university where African Americans
were still a rarity. His advisers had suggested that he
attended historically black college, but he felt he could compete
with white students and sought the more prestigious degree. He
studied architectural engineering and in his junior year undered the
(03:35):
Navy's Aviation Cadet program. The program worked with universities to
train naval aviators, but the program did not operate in
any historically black colleges. The only way for an African
American to get into the program was to be like Brown,
the rare African American at a primarily white university. Hudner
obtained entry into the United States Naval Academy, graduating in
(03:57):
nineteen forty six, too late for the Second World War.
Among his classmates at Annapolis was future US President Jimmy Carter.
He was not initially interested in becoming a pilot, and
upon graduation served on the cruiser US Helena and at
Naval Base Pearl Harbor. In nineteen forty eight, he applied
for flight school, seeking a new challenge, Brown enlisted in
(04:18):
the US Naval Reserve in nineteen forty six and joined
Ohio State's Naval Reserve Officer's Trading program. The stipend from
the RTC helped him to finish financing his degree. He
was still facing an uphill climb, however. Of the sum
fifty six hundred n ROTC cadets nationwide in nineteen forty seven,
only fourteen were black. When he band training as a
(04:39):
naval flight officer in March. Brown was the only black
man in the program. In October nineteen forty eight, he
became the first black man in US history to earn
his naval aviator badge. The achievement was noted nashly and
it was profile by both the Associated Press and Life magazine.
Hudner qualified as a naval aviator in August nineteen forty nine.
(05:00):
Both men were assigned to Navy Fighter Squadron VF thirty two,
station aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Right. In August
nineteen fifty, VF thirty two, including the two now experienced pilots,
was moved to the Essex class carrier USS Layte, bound
for Korea, driving off the Korean Peninsula in October. The
(05:21):
pilots aboard USS Leyte were conducting dozens of missions every day,
attacking Chinese positions with rockets, bombs, and nepal. On December fourth, sixth,
aircraft of VF thirty two, under the command of the
squadron executive officer, took off on a search and destroy
mission over chosen. Padner and Brown were among the six pilots.
The pilots flew low seven hundred feet, looking for targets
(05:43):
and probing Chinese positions. During the course of the mission,
Brown radioed, I think I may have been hit. I'm
losing fuel pressure. One of the other pilots noticed that
Brown's plane seemed to be trailing fuel. The cause was
likely small arms of fire. Chinese troops were trained to
fire in concert at aircraft, and someone had gotten a
lucky hit. Losing fuel pressure, Brown's plane was never going
to make it back to the layte. He had no
(06:05):
choice but to crash land the plane. Hudner, Brown's wingman,
followed him down as Brown crash landed in a bowl
shaped valley some fifteen mile behind enemy lines around three pm.
It was a hard crash. The fuselage buckled and the
nose of the plane twisted underneath. The wreckage hunter waited
to see Brown exit the cockpit, but Brown did not
climb out. The pilots could see Brown waving his arms.
(06:27):
The rest of the pilots were circling, trying to do
what they could for Brown. Their presence may have held
the Chinese at bay. The squadron was told that a
rescue helicopter had been dispatched, but Hunter could he smoke
starting to bellow from Brown's plane. His wingman, his friend
was trapped in the plane, and it was catching fire.
Hudner knew that Brown would not survive in time for
(06:49):
the helicopter to arrive. He made a desperate decision. He radioed,
I'm going in. Standing orders were clear. If one plane crashed,
a pilot was not allowed to risk another plane to
try to save it. Hadner knew that he risked his
career and his life when he performed a wheels up
or belly landing in the snow near Brown's aircraft. The
(07:10):
two were more than wingman, They were friends. Brown had
married his high school sweetheart, Daisy Pearl Nicks, while he
was still in flight school. They had married in secrets,
since pilot cadets were not supposed to marry until they
completed their training. Their daughter, Pamela elist Brown, was just
two years old. When he reached Brown's plane, he found
Brown severely injured and lapsing in and out of consciousness.
(07:32):
The control panel had collapsed as the fuselage buckled, trapping
Brown's leg. Hunter desperately tried to free Brown but had
no luck. He pulled off his scarf and wrapped around
Brown's freezing hands, and Hunter used his own hands to
shovel snow at the Brown's engine, dousing the fire. Unable
to free Brown, he went back to his plane and
radium for the helicopter to bring an axe to help
free Brown. When the helicopter arrived, Hudner and the helicopter pilot,
(07:56):
Lieutenant Charles Ward, worked for forty five minutes with an axe,
trying to free Brown, but without luck. Throughout, Brown remained calm,
the fact that was said to be comforting to Hudner,
but the cold and blood loss was draining Brown. Before
he slipped into unconsciousness, he said to Hudner, tell Daisy
how much I love her. I will, Hudner replied, but
(08:17):
it was growing dark and the helicopter could not operate
after dark. Hudner and Ward had to leave. As he
reluctantly left, Hudner yelled back, We'll be back for you.
It isn't clear if Brown was still alive, but he
could not have lasted long in the freezing cold. Hudner
wanted to go back the next day to retrieve Brown's remains,
(08:40):
but the Navy decided it was just too dangerous. That
the Chinese troops soon nearby. In order to prevent the
Chinese from recovering Brown's body, as well as the wrecks
of the two course airs, the squadron Druc napalm over
the site two days later. As they did, one of
the pilots recited the Lord's Prayer. Twenty four year old
jesse Leroy Brown, the United States Navy's first black aviator,
(09:01):
also became the first US black naval officer to die
in the Korean War. Hunter fully expected to be court martialed,
but the captain of the late he decided instead decorate him.
He said in a message to the press, there has
been no finer action of unselfish heroism in military history.
(09:22):
On April thirteenth, nineteen fifty one, Hudner was awarded the
Medal of Honor for his attempt to save Brown. Daisy
Brown was at the ceremony, and the award was presented
by President Truman, who was said to have remarked, they
would rather have been awarded the Medal of Honor than
become a president. Jesse L. Brown, who broke the color
barrier for US naval aviation, inspired an entire new generation
(09:45):
of black aviators. He was possibly awarded the Purple Heart,
the Air Medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Tom Hudner,
who eventually reached the rank of captain, remained in close
contact with Brown's widow, Daisy throughout her life. She passed
away in twenty fourteen at the age of eighty seven.
(10:05):
Thomas J. Hudner, junior recipient of the Medal of Honor,
passed away in November of twenty seventeen at the age
of ninety three.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Greg Hengler and a special thanks to the History Guy
for sharing this remarkable piece of American history. The story
of Medal of Honor recipient who crashed his plane on
purpose to save his down wingman. Here on our American
Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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