A Brother Who Didn’t Return
April 10, 2008 – 6:00 amYou may recall my entry several weeks ago about a brother who returned home after the military had notified the family that he had been killed in action. The story of this soldier, told to me by his sister Marge, does not have such a happy ending.
Frank Brown was working at Grumman Aircraft Company in Hicksville, Long Island, New York when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. Shortly thereafter he enlisted and became a pilot in the Army Air Force.
He was sent to the Pacific theater as a flight engineer flying out of New Guinea. Three times his plane was attacked, but he managed to fly it back to the field. He was injured in the leg on the last flight and was sent to Australia to recuperate.
Then on November 1, 1944, his plane was machine gunned by the Japanese and the crew of six was ordered to bail out. They had a life raft but their provisions had faller into the water. How any of them survived I do not know. Because one of the men was injured, Frank and another soldier, set out on a smaller raft in search of help for the wounded man. Neither Frank nor his companion was ever heard from again.
The remaining four were in the raft a total of 33 days, ending up on Las Negras Island in the Philippines. The villagers took them in and held them in a basement as hostages, hoping to exchange them for some villagers who had been captured by the Japanese. Fortunately, the men were released by our forces before this could happen. However, because of the horrors of their experience, all four survivors suffered emotional and physical damage for the remainder of their lives.
And Frank’s parents never ceased believing that Frank would one day walk into their home once again.
For more World War II stories, go to www.peggeorge.com
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