BROWN, CHARLES ARTHUR JR.
Name: Charles Arthur Brown, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force, co-pilot
Unit: 307th Strat Wing, Utapao AB TH
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Boston MA
Loss Date: 19 December 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 205900N 1054359E (WJ762203)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: B52D
Others In Incident: Richard W. Cooper; Charlie S. Poole (both missing);
Henry C. Barrows; Hal K. Wilson; Fernando Alexander (all POWs released in
1973).
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 July 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK.
REMARKS: RELDS 730329 BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: Frustrated by problems in negotiating a peace settlement, and
pressured by a Congress and public wanting an immediate end to American
involvement in Vietnam, President Nixon ordered the most concentrated air
offensive of the war - known as Linebacker II - in December 1972. During the
offensive, sometimes called the "Christmas bombings," 40,000 tons of bombs
were dropped, primarily over the area between Hanoi and Haiphong. White
House Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler said that the bombing would end only
when all U.S. POWs were released and an internationally recognized
cease-fire was in force.
On the first day of Linebacker II, December 18, 129 B52s arrived over Hanoi
in three waves, four to five hours apart. They attacked the airfields at Hoa
Lac, Kep and Phuc Yen, the Kinh No complex and the Yen Vien railyards. The
aircraft flew in tight cells of three aircraft to maximize the mutual
support benefits of their ECM equipment and flew straight and level to
stabilize the bombing computers and ensure that all bombs fell on the
military targets and not in civilian areas.
The pilots of the early missions reported that "wall-to-wall SAMS"
surrounded Hanoi as they neared its outskirts. The first night of bombing,
December 18 and 19, two B52s were shot down by SAMs.
Onboard the first aircraft shot down on December 18 was its pilot, LTCOL
Donald L. Rissi and crewmen MAJ Richard E. Johnson, CAPT Richard T. Simpson,
CAPT Robert G. Certain, 1LT Robert J. Thomas and SGT Walter L. Ferguson. Of
this crew, Certain, Simpson and Johnson were captured and shown the bodies
of the other crew members. Six years later, the bodies of Rissi, Thomas and
Ferguson were returned to U.S. control by the Vietnamese. Certain, Simpson
and Johnson were held prisoner in Hanoi until March 29, 1973, when they were
released in Operation Homecoming.
Capt. Hal K. Wilson was in the lead aircraft of a B52 cell from Utapoa. Also
on board his aircraft were crew men MAJ Fernando Alexander, CAPT Charles A.
Brown, Jr., CAPT Henry C. Barrows, CAPT Richard W. Cooper Jr. (the
navigator), and SGT Charlie S. Poole (the tailgunner). Wilson's aircraft was
hit by a SAM near his target area and crashed in the early morning hours of
December 19, sustaining damage to the fuselage. In the ensuing fire, there
was no time for orderly bailout, but as later examination of radio tapes
indicated, all six crewmen deployed their parachutes and evidently safely
ejected. The aircraft damage report indicated that all six men were
prisoner.
Radio Hanoi announced that Poole had been captured and that he was
uninjured. Whether Cooper's name was also reported is unknown, as the airman
who heard this report on Guam heard only part of the broadcast, and being a
friend of the Poole family, remembered vividly only the parts concerning
Charlie Poole. When the war ended, however, only four of the crew returned
from Hanoi prisons. Hanoi remained silent about the fate of Charlie Poole
and Richard Cooper.
The Christmas Bombings, despite press accounts to the contrary, were of the
most precise the world had seen. Pilots involved in the immense series of
strikes generally agree that the strikes against anti-aircraft and strategic
targets was so successful that the U.S., had it desired, "could have taken
the entire country of Vietnam by inserting an average Boy Scout troop in
Hanoi and marching them southward."
To achieve this precision bombing, the Pentagon deemed it necessary to stick
to a regular flight path. For many missions, the predictable B52 strikes
were anticipated and prepared for by the North Vietnamese. Later, however,
flight paths were altered and attrition all but eliminated any hostile
threat from the ground.
Linebacker II involved 155 Boeing B52 Stratofortress bombers stationed at
Anderson AFB, Guam (72nd Strat Wing) and another 50 B52s stationed at Utapoa
Airbase, Thailand (307th Strat Wing), an enormous number of bombers with
over one thousand men flying the missions. However, the bombings were not
conducted without high loss of aircraft and personnel. During the month of
December 1972, 61 crewmembers onboard ten B52 aircraft were shot down and
were captured or declared missing. (The B52 carried a crew of six men;
however, one B52 lost carried an extra crewman.) Of these 61, 33 men were
released in 1973. The others remained missing at the end of the war. Over
half of these survived to eject safely. What happened to them?
Reports mount that have convinced many authorities that Americans are still
held captive in Southeast Asia. Are Poole and Cooper among them? Do they
know the country they love has abandoned them? Isn't it time we found them
and brought them home?
SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977 Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR
Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St.,
Toluca Lake, CA 91602 Text is reproduced as found in the original
publication (including date and spelling errors). UPDATE - 09/95 by the
P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO
CHARLES A. BROWN Captain - United States Air Force
Shot Down: December 19, 1972
Released: March 29, 1973
My name is Captain Charles A. Brown (Charlie Brown) and I was shot down and
captured over Hanoi in North Vietnam on December 19, 1972 while on a B-52
bombing mission. My feeling at the time was initially one of great sadness
because it was within three days of being reunited with my wife, who was
scheduled to board a plane to come and visit me eighteen hours after I was
shot down. I found out later that she got as far as Los Angeles Airport
before she was told the bad news. Her parents live in California so
everything worked out for they picked her up at the airport and she went
home with them.
My initial reaction to imprisonment was, of course, one of shock mixed with
deep sorrow for me, my family and all my friends. I was kept in solitary for
only 36 hours, due to the fact that during the period of December 18 to 28,
1972 the "Hanoi Hilton" received a lot of uninvited guests. The short
solitary confinement helped to ease any feelings of loneliness that I might
have had. I knew of the negotiations in Paris and I had the hope that the
agreement would be signed soon. Thank God it was signed at the end of
January and I was only in jail for 101 days-a short stay but still too long.
In the sixty-one days between January 28 and March 28, 1973, the Vietnamese
"fed" us a rather steady diet of propaganda and generally maintained the
same war footing with us. A big morale booster to us was the fact that our
prison ("The Zoo") was so situated that for every release we could see the
American C-141 coming to the Gia Lam Airport and going out with the released
prisoners. Just the sight of an American airplane made us cheer and the fact
that fellow prisoners were going home really made for a joyous occasion.
When the occasion came for our release, which was the last from North
Vietnam, on March 29, 1973, I was overjoyed and I almost cried when I first
entered the C-141 and saw the American Flag. lt was the happiest day of my
life.
Now that my imprisonment is over, I plan to stay with my wife and start a
family. I will separate from the service on about August 1, 1973 and enter
civilian life.
My message to the American People: We never know what we have until we lose
it and freedom is one of the most important facets of life that is all too
easily taken for granted. Throughout history, and even today, men are
enslaved throughout the world while America stays free. Cherish your
freedom, for it is very precious and very hard earned throughout the years.
God HAS blessed America!
Charles Brown Jr. retired from the United States Air Force Reserves as a Lt.
Colonel. He and his wife Marty reside in Massachusetts.
Use your Browser's BACK function to return to the PREVIOUS page