Frank Brown
Technical Sergeant Frank Brown, VMB-612, U.S. Marine Corps
Technical Sergeant Frank Brown was born in England in 1917. His family came to the USA in 1924. Sometime before 1930, his father passed away. In April of 1930, he and his mother Mary were lodging at 1328 Chase Street, the home of George and Elsa Baker. George Baker was a shipwright who had come with his wife from England in 1924 as well. His mother Mary was working as a helper in a bakery. He and his mother and a niece, Mary Taggart, moved into the then-new Westfield Acres Housing Project in Camden, NJ, shortly after it opened in 1938, and were there when the Census was taken in 1940.
Technical Sergeant Frank Brown entered the United States Marine Corps in November of 1942. He qualified for flight duty, and trained at the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, FL. When sent overseas he served with Marine Bomber Squadron 612 (VMB-612) alongside another Camden man, Joseph John Bottalico Jr., who was killed in action in March of 1945. Frank Brown had won the Air Medal with Gold Star and the Purple Heart before his plane, a North American PBJ-1H bomber — the naval version of the B-25 Mitchell bomber — was declared missing on July 27, 1945. His placement on the missing in action list was reported in the August 21, 1945 edition of the Camden Courier-Post.
Frank Brown was declared dead on July 28, 1946. He was survived by his mother, Mary Brown, who was still residing in the Westfield Acres Housing Project, at 321 Beideman Avenue, Camden, NJ. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Letter from Frank Brown to Waldemar 'Bud' Diehl
Dec. 20, 1944
In the Marianas
Dear Bud & Family,
A few lines to let you know everything is under control. Thanks for the pamphlets etc & the lovely X’mas Card. May I in return wish the Diehl family Best wishes, happiness & Good health throughout the coming year & that X’mas is a happy one.
Heard from Bill T. yesterday; it appears he enjoys his married life and after 3 short months wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. They are (according to Bill) in complete accord with one another at all time. I sincerely wish that it continues so and that she will helps Bill back to earth gently — helpfully & graciously.
Tommy hasn’t written of late. Perhaps it’s the distance & the constant traveling I shall probably hear from him soon. By his last letter, he says he likes England & enjoys bicycling around it’s scenic country; even though he can’t see too much of it because of the fog. However, he said he’ll certainly be glad to get back to the good old USA. I’m sure there are thousands with the same thought in mind.
Our outfit has done a slight bit of traveling in the past 2 or 3 months — First stopping at Hawaii after leaving California and the beautiful Hollywood girls.
It was in Hawaii that I met up with my brother Harry & we had a grand reunion over a couple of cups of tea drunk in a chinese restaurant run by a couple of Japs, so the story goes. He had landed a month or two before so a showed me around the different sights. The beach, the acquarium, best place to eat and the longest way to walk back to the base. He said it was easy to hitch a ride — but I couldn’t convince my feet after I got back to the barracks.
All good things must come to an end thus I left my good brother in his CB battalion & continued West with our outfit. The Marshalls proved to be our second stop [crossed-out word] & stop we did for quite some time. It seemed our routine was — “in the bunk — out of the bunk to the mess hall” back to the bunk. The whole thing just turned out to be the “bunk”. Sometimes we hung over the rail & watched the fly-fishes glide over the surface of the water. Sometimes you could see sharks & barracuda — Sometimes just water. That’s something that seemed to be everywhere. Especially at night, when you brought your mattress in deck & sleep on because it was to stuffy below decks. It invariably rained — Yeh! just more water.
So we suffered close quarters & enjoyed ocean breezes until we finally pulled anchor & sailed for our present position. It’s here we are establishing our headquarters so there is plenty of work for all hands. Sometimes I wonder whether we aren’t a Construction outfit instead of a flight squadron. Time will tell — Anyway it’s good experience.
The island itself isn’t bad — except when it rains heavy leaving or rather creating plenty of mud to slosh around in. Incidentally it only manages to rain once or twice daily. Vegetation is thick & healthy — soil good — sunshine & warmth constant. Rain of course too much.
So you have it, a quick summary of our doings, without revealing (military) secrets. Sometimes I wonder which is a secret & which isn’t. It’s all so confusing.
Well time for a little shuteye so seasons greetings to the Diehl Family with health & happiness to all
Your Friend
Frank