Wayne Wilding Brown

Major Wayne Wilding Brown enlisted into the US Army Air Corps Reserve as an Air Cadet on Oct. 14, 1940. He received his commission as a 2nd lieutenant at Randolph Field, Texas in May of 1941. From there, he was assigned to the Caribbean Defense Area and served in Central America for three years.

He returned to the US on leave, where he visited his friends and family, before being sent to the AAF Redistribution Station in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He volunteered to go to Europe, where he would get to fly the plane of his choosing. He was assigned to the 368th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group and stationed at USAAF Station F-133 in Norfolk, England.

On June 17, 1944, Major Brown took off for a routine training flight with two other servicemen. Brown was flying a P-51C3 fighter aircraft. At some point during the flight, the other airmen peeled off from Brown. As they returned to their base, they realized Brown was no longer with them. According to eyewitnesses, Brown's P-51 had broken up over England and crashed near Gosfield, England.

Major Wayne W. Brown is buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Coton, England. For his service, he was awarded two Air Medals.