March 20, 2025 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, his name? Jesse Leroy Brown. There's a movie dedicated to him called "Devotion," based on the book of the same name by our regular contributor, Adam Makos. The story is also about Thomas Hudner, who received the Medal of Honor for trying to save Jesse's life. Here to share the story of the man is Jesse's granddaughter, Jessica Leroyce Knight Henry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Up next, the
story of America's first black naval aviator. There's been a
movie dedicated to him called Devotion, based on the book
of the same name by Adam Akos, who's a regular
contributor to this show. The story is about Jesse Leroy Brown,
(00:31):
but it's also about Thomas Hudner, who won a Medal
of Honor trying to save Jesse's life in combat. Here
to tell this story is the granddaughter of Jesse Leroy Brown.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm Jessica Knight Henry, the granddaughter of Jesse Leworth Brown,
the first black naval aviator. My grandfather was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi,
which is also where I grew up. And you know,
his story means so much to our family, but is
(01:12):
also a really important piece of American history. And so
we've been so grateful with the success of the film
Devotion to just bring Jesse's story to a much wider audience.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Jesse's plane was shot down and he was killed in
action December third, nineteen fifty and my mom was just
shy of being two years old, and so we didn't
grow up with my grandfather just stories from my grandmother,
his brothers, and those who served with him about his
legacy and exactly what he meant to them, but what
(01:53):
that historic sacrifice meant to so many others, particularly the
American military. But the interesting thing about the movie is
that we meet Jesse when he's already a pilot. And
so if there was anything that I would share with folks,
would be more insight into just exactly what he overcame
(02:17):
to get him to that place. So Jesse grew up
in a shotgun one bedroom home in South Mississippi, no
indoor plumbing, you know, no electricity. They would often read
the Bible and Scripture by candlelight, and I mean modest
(02:40):
is probably a very generous word for what they experienced.
But it was a home, nonetheless, and it was you know,
what they built and what.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
They were proud of.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And chaircropping at the time was just the level of
hard work. And the boys were in the fields. They
had an opportunity to get an education because the family
placed a huge importance on that, but they were also
out there working right along with their father. He was
(03:12):
in school, he would read the dictionary backwards and forwards,
and all of these stories that I heard growing up
about just how important it was to be successful, because
they saw that as a ticket out of the abject
poverty that they faced.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
In South Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
A lot of the farms that they would be working
were by air fills, and so Jesse often saw these planes,
whether the crop dusters or other aircraft, and always knew
that he wanted to fly. And so their countless stories
(03:50):
of him being a little boy, and you know, as
they're literally picking cotton and seeing a plane overhead, would say,
I'm going to fly of those someday. And I like
to think of the snickers or the looks that he would.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Get from folks.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
One of my favorite stories that I heard about my
grandfather was a black night watchman at one of the
hangars who allowed him and his brothers to come in
and literally touch a plane, get inside of a plane.
And how that one little moment, an act of kindness,
was important to him because of this love of flying.
(04:28):
And so you think about him being in high school,
he was just gifted, which is incredibly daunting, I think,
being the granddaughter of someone who was amazing. He was
an incredible athlete, He ran track, He was valedictorian at
his high school and so having all of these achievements
but still being just so bound by your circumstances at
(04:54):
a time like that, growing up in you know, nineteen
Thirti's Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
What that must have meant.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
My uncle Junior, Jesse's brother, would talk about how he
was approached to participate in this local competition to design
a part for a water pump. And this white company
owner had been to various other colleges and also high schools,
but looking to individuals that had some engineering protwess, and
(05:30):
only came to Eurica High School when he was unable
to find someone to create this part. And Jesse was
so excited one to be able to have this opportunity,
but to really have the machinations in his brain work
and to be challenged.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
In this way.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And so he was able to successfully build this part
to help this water pump. And it was something that
one grown men with jobs like should have been able
to do. And he did it. The guy said thank you,
and that was sort of the end of it. And
(06:14):
I remember my uncle Junior, who I mentioned. The brothers
would always be emotional when they would think about what
Jesse endured. Jesse told him that the owner said to him,
if you weren't figuring out how to fix that machine,
would have paid for your college. And so the idea
of him getting the courage to want to even dream
(06:36):
about something beyond that, but then going off and doing that,
And obviously he had the motivation from his parents and
his family, but I think a lot of what we hear,
particularly around the courtship that he shared with my grandmother,
was just how powerful of a force that was as well.
And you know, him meeting her and then being you know,
(07:00):
in high school together, but him walking upwards of five
ten miles just to make sure he was there to
walk her to and from classes, and understanding that she
was the eldest of a really really large family and
what that looked like to come and say like, hey,
this is someone that I want to date, and how
(07:23):
that must have been pretty daunting, but you know, at
the same time having to recognize a lot of the
responsibilities that she had with helping to rear her own
siblings as well. And so this powerful love story that
they shared that really you know, came together over wanting
(07:47):
and daring to achieve something greater than what they were
born into. And so I think when the opportunity for
my grandfather to move to Ohio to to matric for college,
him having the opportunity to join the architectural program at
Ohio State University and then subsequently join the Navy RTC
(08:11):
program and begin a flight training school. There were stories
of him working in box cars and experiencing some level
of homelessness and whatever he had to do to sacrifice
to achieve those dreams and also to make money and
send it back home. So he was going to always
go against the current, despite it being more difficult and unchartered.
(08:37):
Jesse always wanted to be the best, and that meant
like competing with the best.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And you've been listening to Jessica Knight Henry tell the
story of her granddaddy, Jesse Leroy Brown, and he grew
up in a sharecropping home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And by
the way, we broadcast about three and a half hours
north of Haddiesburg in Oxford, Mississippi, a beautiful, small college
town about an hour south of Memphis. He grew up
(09:06):
near airfields too, working in the cotton fields. He'd see
planes flying overhead and he would tell anybody he could
I'm going to fly those one day, and indeed he did.
When we come back more of the life story of
Jesse Leroy Brown here on our American Stories, and we
(09:39):
continue with our American Stories and the story of Jesse
Leroy Brown here to pick up where she last left
off talking about her granddad, Jessica Knight.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Henry Jesse always wanted to be the best, and that
meant like competing with the best, and even considering like
the Navy Academy at that time was not a place
where he would have had that opportunity. So going and
finding a program where he knew that there was a
path to get him in the military and a plane
(10:14):
was something that he looked into to make sure that
he could afford himself that opportunity. And this is before
he even enters the flight training program. And I think
once he is accepted into that program, you know, it's
certainly a historical first, but now you have the ire
of individuals who don't want to see a black man
(10:37):
be successful in this space and experiencing that. You know,
there are stories of him and the swim test, and
it's alluded to in the film, and I think to
think about the many, many times that they made him
take that test and adding weights to his backpack and
(10:57):
for him to achieve that, but then to make it
even that much more difficult, or his loo not wanting
to pin his wings once he actually did achieve this.
You know a lot of the stories that we hear
are just you know, how he was this sort of quiet,
kind of giant, like he processed that and didn't have
(11:20):
a ton of outlet. There are stories that he shared
with his brothers and they would always just be so
emotional about how revered he was.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
They understood a lot of what.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He kept to himself in an effort to protect them
as well and for them to you know, still have
the space to also dream and want to achieve something
even though he knew that many people would like to
see him fail. And so the importance of having my
grandmother and in that space. It was amazing hearing Christina Jackson,
(11:56):
who plays my grandmother, and Jonathan Major's talk about sanctuary
and what that meant for Jesse and Daisy and how
that was a word that they came back too often
when they were on set trying to portray that, And
it was such a beautiful thought for me to think
about them being that sanctuary because their faith certainly grounded
(12:21):
them and you know, everything that they did growing up
in the Black Church and understanding that and really seeing
like how much of a foundational pillar it was, and
to think about a higher calling in terms of faith,
but also to be driven by something that's calling you
to be more than what your circumstances allow. And so
(12:44):
having that was what contributed to a lot of the
fire and the belly that Jesse and and my grandmother
Daisy had. Pearl Harbor is important in the historical context
of why the US military needed to push forward with
(13:05):
sort of desegregating the military. We get a lot of
comparisons when folks who are not familiar with my grandfather's
story of Oh, Tuskegee Airman, and it's you know, one
making the differential between the fact that they were army pilots,
but this was also a unit that had multiple individuals,
(13:26):
whereas Jesse had to go it alone. And so I
think that understanding the Navy and carrier landing and what
that meant as being an extreme elite pilot to be
able to land planes on the shortened runway and how
dangerous it was, and that he was elite at this thing.
(13:49):
Jesse and Tom both had gone on to achieve being
Navy pilots, and when Jesse gets the opportunity to meet Tom,
not only are they equals, but Jesse outranks him. And
so I hear all of these stories and from other
guys in the squadron that it wasn't this immediate deep
(14:12):
connection that they had to work at it. You know,
there's a certain intimacy that you experience when you're flying
with someone and being someone's wingman in a way, is
this true partnership?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
And so we would hear stories.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Of Tom talk about Jesse in despite folks meaning well,
he just wanted to be treated as an equal and
not receiving a handout or looked down upon, or that
you were some pity higher like.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
He achieved that in.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Some ways with more to overcome than others did, because
his path was much more arduous. And so having gotten
to know Tom Hudner throughout my childhood was just the
not only the love that was there, but that deep
seated respect that he and others had for Jesse within
(15:11):
the squadron. So they are experiencing a flight mission which
felt mostly routine for what they had experienced, and as
Jesse and Tom after providing support on the ground for
(15:31):
the Marines, his plane is hit by enemy fire and
they noticed that it has affected the engine, and so
it becomes apparent that he's going to have to crash
land his plane, and so the guys are there with
him and flying support, and he crashes his plane and
(15:55):
isn't able to get himself out. We find out that
he is and into the fuselage of the plane, and
it's amazing to think what must have gone through Tom's
mind at the time. But it's one of those things
that he could have been court martialed for, like it
(16:16):
was not this heroic thing at the time. He was
intentionally destroying a US Navy plane after another plane had
already gone down in an attempt to save Jesse and
crash lands his plane, gets out, does what he can
to try to free him and is unsuccessful in that
(16:41):
he's not able to get him out. But I think
for the family, we've always found so much solace and
have been extremely grateful that Tom was with my grandfather
during those final moments, and that's where we know that
his last words were tail Daisy, I love her and
(17:04):
I get emotional because there's so much that we lost
when we lost Jesse, and to be able to have
had an opportunity to say thank you directly to Tom
over many occasions, but just recognizing the sacrifice that he made,
you know, we are so grateful and are so proud
(17:26):
that he rightfully received the Medal of Honor for that
heroic attempt. But I would say the one thing is
that getting to meet other members from the Squadron, Bill Keenig,
Marty Good I got a chance to connect with them
when I was in my early twenties I had moved
to Virginia Beach and to hear both of them say
(17:49):
that any of them would have done the same for
him is just such a testament to who Jesse was,
but what that brotherhood really meant. And I think Tom
has also said that it like if it weren't him,
that it would have been someone else that was willing
to make that sacrifice as well. This has been an
(18:13):
incredible journey for our family one just getting to share
Jesse with the world. It was certainly a place where
I felt the most anxiety, I think, coming in and
knowing that you would become a household name and I
think that's always been a dream of ours. But at
the same time like protecting the family legacy and keeping
(18:36):
that so close. So he was Jesse Leroy Brown. I'm
Jessica le Royce now Knight Henry, but yeah, that I mean,
I guess they always had a play in It took
me a minute to, I guess, sort of step into it.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
But yeah, it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And I have a six year old and her name
is She's named after my So we are very like
locked and loaded with the Jesse and Daisy legacy in
my household.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to Jessica Knight Henry,
Jesse Leroy Brown's granddaughter. And we learned from her that
the family's faith grounded him and by the way, gave
him that sense of the divine, of the higher purpose
and a higher calling for his life and his talents.
And he wanted the best of the best of the
(19:33):
toughest of the toughest, which meant of course being a
naval aviator, because you had to land that plane well
on that aircraft carrier, that tiny landing strip that's moving
and bouncing around, and so he goes to Ohio State
because there's a pathway to become the first black naval aviator.
And he did it alone. He did it alone. In
(19:54):
that way, he's the Jackie Robinson of naval aviation. And
then there's Thomas Hudner, who's white, and a fascinating part
of this story is that love, that bond that this
white man who grew up so differently than Jesse. The
story of Jesse Leroy Brown as told by his granddaughter
here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. Up next, the
story of America's first black naval aviator. There's been a
movie dedicated to him called Devotion, based on the book
of the same name by Adam Akos, who's a regular
contributor to this show. The story is about Jesse Leroy Brown,
(00:31):
but it's also about Thomas Hudner, who won a Medal
of Honor trying to save Jesse's life in combat. Here
to tell this story is the granddaughter of Jesse Leroy Brown.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm Jessica Knight Henry, the granddaughter of Jesse Leworth Brown,
the first black naval aviator. My grandfather was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi,
which is also where I grew up. And you know,
his story means so much to our family, but is
(01:12):
also a really important piece of American history. And so
we've been so grateful with the success of the film
Devotion to just bring Jesse's story to a much wider audience.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Jesse's plane was shot down and he was killed in
action December third, nineteen fifty and my mom was just
shy of being two years old, and so we didn't
grow up with my grandfather just stories from my grandmother,
his brothers, and those who served with him about his
legacy and exactly what he meant to them, but what
(01:53):
that historic sacrifice meant to so many others, particularly the
American military. But the interesting thing about the movie is
that we meet Jesse when he's already a pilot. And
so if there was anything that I would share with folks,
would be more insight into just exactly what he overcame
(02:17):
to get him to that place. So Jesse grew up
in a shotgun one bedroom home in South Mississippi, no
indoor plumbing, you know, no electricity. They would often read
the Bible and Scripture by candlelight, and I mean modest
(02:40):
is probably a very generous word for what they experienced.
But it was a home, nonetheless, and it was you know,
what they built and what.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
They were proud of.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And chaircropping at the time was just the level of
hard work. And the boys were in the fields. They
had an opportunity to get an education because the family
placed a huge importance on that, but they were also
out there working right along with their father. He was
(03:12):
in school, he would read the dictionary backwards and forwards,
and all of these stories that I heard growing up
about just how important it was to be successful, because
they saw that as a ticket out of the abject
poverty that they faced.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
In South Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
A lot of the farms that they would be working
were by air fills, and so Jesse often saw these planes,
whether the crop dusters or other aircraft, and always knew
that he wanted to fly. And so their countless stories
(03:50):
of him being a little boy, and you know, as
they're literally picking cotton and seeing a plane overhead, would say,
I'm going to fly of those someday. And I like
to think of the snickers or the looks that he would.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Get from folks.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
One of my favorite stories that I heard about my
grandfather was a black night watchman at one of the
hangars who allowed him and his brothers to come in
and literally touch a plane, get inside of a plane.
And how that one little moment, an act of kindness,
was important to him because of this love of flying.
(04:28):
And so you think about him being in high school,
he was just gifted, which is incredibly daunting, I think,
being the granddaughter of someone who was amazing. He was
an incredible athlete, He ran track, He was valedictorian at
his high school and so having all of these achievements
but still being just so bound by your circumstances at
(04:54):
a time like that, growing up in you know, nineteen
Thirti's Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
What that must have meant.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
My uncle Junior, Jesse's brother, would talk about how he
was approached to participate in this local competition to design
a part for a water pump. And this white company
owner had been to various other colleges and also high schools,
but looking to individuals that had some engineering protwess, and
(05:30):
only came to Eurica High School when he was unable
to find someone to create this part. And Jesse was
so excited one to be able to have this opportunity,
but to really have the machinations in his brain work
and to be challenged.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
In this way.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And so he was able to successfully build this part
to help this water pump. And it was something that
one grown men with jobs like should have been able
to do. And he did it. The guy said thank you,
and that was sort of the end of it. And
(06:14):
I remember my uncle Junior, who I mentioned. The brothers
would always be emotional when they would think about what
Jesse endured. Jesse told him that the owner said to him,
if you weren't figuring out how to fix that machine,
would have paid for your college. And so the idea
of him getting the courage to want to even dream
(06:36):
about something beyond that, but then going off and doing that,
And obviously he had the motivation from his parents and
his family, but I think a lot of what we hear,
particularly around the courtship that he shared with my grandmother,
was just how powerful of a force that was as well.
And you know, him meeting her and then being you know,
(07:00):
in high school together, but him walking upwards of five
ten miles just to make sure he was there to
walk her to and from classes, and understanding that she
was the eldest of a really really large family and
what that looked like to come and say like, hey,
this is someone that I want to date, and how
(07:23):
that must have been pretty daunting, but you know, at
the same time having to recognize a lot of the
responsibilities that she had with helping to rear her own
siblings as well. And so this powerful love story that
they shared that really you know, came together over wanting
(07:47):
and daring to achieve something greater than what they were
born into. And so I think when the opportunity for
my grandfather to move to Ohio to to matric for college,
him having the opportunity to join the architectural program at
Ohio State University and then subsequently join the Navy RTC
(08:11):
program and begin a flight training school. There were stories
of him working in box cars and experiencing some level
of homelessness and whatever he had to do to sacrifice
to achieve those dreams and also to make money and
send it back home. So he was going to always
go against the current, despite it being more difficult and unchartered.
(08:37):
Jesse always wanted to be the best, and that meant
like competing with the best.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And you've been listening to Jessica Knight Henry tell the
story of her granddaddy, Jesse Leroy Brown, and he grew
up in a sharecropping home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And by
the way, we broadcast about three and a half hours
north of Haddiesburg in Oxford, Mississippi, a beautiful, small college
town about an hour south of Memphis. He grew up
(09:06):
near airfields too, working in the cotton fields. He'd see
planes flying overhead and he would tell anybody he could
I'm going to fly those one day, and indeed he did.
When we come back more of the life story of
Jesse Leroy Brown here on our American Stories, and we
(09:39):
continue with our American Stories and the story of Jesse
Leroy Brown here to pick up where she last left
off talking about her granddad, Jessica Knight.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Henry Jesse always wanted to be the best, and that
meant like competing with the best, and even considering like
the Navy Academy at that time was not a place
where he would have had that opportunity. So going and
finding a program where he knew that there was a
path to get him in the military and a plane
(10:14):
was something that he looked into to make sure that
he could afford himself that opportunity. And this is before
he even enters the flight training program. And I think
once he is accepted into that program, you know, it's
certainly a historical first, but now you have the ire
of individuals who don't want to see a black man
(10:37):
be successful in this space and experiencing that. You know,
there are stories of him and the swim test, and
it's alluded to in the film, and I think to
think about the many, many times that they made him
take that test and adding weights to his backpack and
(10:57):
for him to achieve that, but then to make it
even that much more difficult, or his loo not wanting
to pin his wings once he actually did achieve this.
You know a lot of the stories that we hear
are just you know, how he was this sort of quiet,
kind of giant, like he processed that and didn't have
(11:20):
a ton of outlet. There are stories that he shared
with his brothers and they would always just be so
emotional about how revered he was.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
They understood a lot of what.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He kept to himself in an effort to protect them
as well and for them to you know, still have
the space to also dream and want to achieve something
even though he knew that many people would like to
see him fail. And so the importance of having my
grandmother and in that space. It was amazing hearing Christina Jackson,
(11:56):
who plays my grandmother, and Jonathan Major's talk about sanctuary
and what that meant for Jesse and Daisy and how
that was a word that they came back too often
when they were on set trying to portray that, And
it was such a beautiful thought for me to think
about them being that sanctuary because their faith certainly grounded
(12:21):
them and you know, everything that they did growing up
in the Black Church and understanding that and really seeing
like how much of a foundational pillar it was, and
to think about a higher calling in terms of faith,
but also to be driven by something that's calling you
to be more than what your circumstances allow. And so
(12:44):
having that was what contributed to a lot of the
fire and the belly that Jesse and and my grandmother
Daisy had. Pearl Harbor is important in the historical context
of why the US military needed to push forward with
(13:05):
sort of desegregating the military. We get a lot of
comparisons when folks who are not familiar with my grandfather's
story of Oh, Tuskegee Airman, and it's you know, one
making the differential between the fact that they were army pilots,
but this was also a unit that had multiple individuals,
(13:26):
whereas Jesse had to go it alone. And so I
think that understanding the Navy and carrier landing and what
that meant as being an extreme elite pilot to be
able to land planes on the shortened runway and how
dangerous it was, and that he was elite at this thing.
(13:49):
Jesse and Tom both had gone on to achieve being
Navy pilots, and when Jesse gets the opportunity to meet Tom,
not only are they equals, but Jesse outranks him. And
so I hear all of these stories and from other
guys in the squadron that it wasn't this immediate deep
(14:12):
connection that they had to work at it. You know,
there's a certain intimacy that you experience when you're flying
with someone and being someone's wingman in a way, is
this true partnership?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
And so we would hear stories.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Of Tom talk about Jesse in despite folks meaning well,
he just wanted to be treated as an equal and
not receiving a handout or looked down upon, or that
you were some pity higher like.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
He achieved that in.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Some ways with more to overcome than others did, because
his path was much more arduous. And so having gotten
to know Tom Hudner throughout my childhood was just the
not only the love that was there, but that deep
seated respect that he and others had for Jesse within
(15:11):
the squadron. So they are experiencing a flight mission which
felt mostly routine for what they had experienced, and as
Jesse and Tom after providing support on the ground for
(15:31):
the Marines, his plane is hit by enemy fire and
they noticed that it has affected the engine, and so
it becomes apparent that he's going to have to crash
land his plane, and so the guys are there with
him and flying support, and he crashes his plane and
(15:55):
isn't able to get himself out. We find out that
he is and into the fuselage of the plane, and
it's amazing to think what must have gone through Tom's
mind at the time. But it's one of those things
that he could have been court martialed for, like it
(16:16):
was not this heroic thing at the time. He was
intentionally destroying a US Navy plane after another plane had
already gone down in an attempt to save Jesse and
crash lands his plane, gets out, does what he can
to try to free him and is unsuccessful in that
(16:41):
he's not able to get him out. But I think
for the family, we've always found so much solace and
have been extremely grateful that Tom was with my grandfather
during those final moments, and that's where we know that
his last words were tail Daisy, I love her and
(17:04):
I get emotional because there's so much that we lost
when we lost Jesse, and to be able to have
had an opportunity to say thank you directly to Tom
over many occasions, but just recognizing the sacrifice that he made,
you know, we are so grateful and are so proud
(17:26):
that he rightfully received the Medal of Honor for that
heroic attempt. But I would say the one thing is
that getting to meet other members from the Squadron, Bill Keenig,
Marty Good I got a chance to connect with them
when I was in my early twenties I had moved
to Virginia Beach and to hear both of them say
(17:49):
that any of them would have done the same for
him is just such a testament to who Jesse was,
but what that brotherhood really meant. And I think Tom
has also said that it like if it weren't him,
that it would have been someone else that was willing
to make that sacrifice as well. This has been an
(18:13):
incredible journey for our family one just getting to share
Jesse with the world. It was certainly a place where
I felt the most anxiety, I think, coming in and
knowing that you would become a household name and I
think that's always been a dream of ours. But at
the same time like protecting the family legacy and keeping
(18:36):
that so close. So he was Jesse Leroy Brown. I'm
Jessica le Royce now Knight Henry, but yeah, that I mean,
I guess they always had a play in It took
me a minute to, I guess, sort of step into it.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
But yeah, it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And I have a six year old and her name
is She's named after my So we are very like
locked and loaded with the Jesse and Daisy legacy in
my household.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to Jessica Knight Henry,
Jesse Leroy Brown's granddaughter. And we learned from her that
the family's faith grounded him and by the way, gave
him that sense of the divine, of the higher purpose
and a higher calling for his life and his talents.
And he wanted the best of the best of the
(19:33):
toughest of the toughest, which meant of course being a
naval aviator, because you had to land that plane well
on that aircraft carrier, that tiny landing strip that's moving
and bouncing around, and so he goes to Ohio State
because there's a pathway to become the first black naval aviator.
And he did it alone. He did it alone. In
(19:54):
that way, he's the Jackie Robinson of naval aviation. And
then there's Thomas Hudner, who's white, and a fascinating part
of this story is that love, that bond that this
white man who grew up so differently than Jesse. The
story of Jesse Leroy Brown as told by his granddaughter
here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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