Theron Hart Brown III
Theron H. Brown III was a Marine Corps fighter pilot who flew with VMF-213.
He was shot down while strafing Kahili Airfield, Bougainville, on 12 September 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve (Aviation)
Service Number O-13574
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
History
Theron “Ted” Brown was born in Petersburg, Virginia on 13 June 1917. His parents were Theron and Eleanor Irving Brown. Ted grew up in Essex County, New Jersey and Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.
Theron’s family also included his younger brother, Sherwood.
Ted attended Duke University and graduated in 1939 with a degree in business administration. He took a job with the Home Insurance Company in Charlotte, North Carolina after finishing school.
Theron enlisted in the US Navy on 14 May 1941, from a recruiting station in Atlanta, Georgia. Three days after Pearl Harbor, he was accepted as an aviation cadet and transferred to Naval Air Station Jacksonville for training.
Brown received his pilot’s wings and his commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps on 3 September 1942, and deployed to the Pacific as a member of VMF-213 (the “Hell Hawks”).
During his service with VMF-213, Brown advanced in rank to captain and was credited with 2.5 planes shot down, plus one probable. He was linguistically gifted and enjoyed writing verses, many of which survive in “The Hell Hawk Poems.”
On 12 September 1943, Captain Brown was part of a four-plane flight assigned to escort B-25 bombers to strike Kahili airfield. Due to bad weather and a late start, the Corsairs failed to find the bombers and decided to strafe the airfield on their own.
The four Marine pilots made a run over the field at fifty feet, shooting up parked airplanes, trucks, and a mess tent. As they departed, Captain Brown radioed that his plane was hit and losing oil pressure. They climbed to a thousand feet, but Brown’s plane lost power, nosed over, and crashed into the sea about five miles north of the Shortland Islands.
The three surviving pilots circled the crash site but saw no indication that Captain Brown had survived. He was reported as missing, and finally declared dead on 13 September 1944.
News of the incident was sent to the primary next of kin, his mother Eleanor who was living at 3553 77th Street, Jackson Heights, New York.
Decorations
Air Medal
Purple Heart
2.5 confirmed aerial victories
