In Memory of... LTJG Thomas Edward Brown

On 29 April 1966 a flight of two F-8E Crusaders of Fighter Squadron 211 launched from USS Hancock on an armed reconnaissance mission along the coast of North Vietnam. Lieutenant (junior grade) Thomas E. Brown was flying as wingman in F-8E BuNo 150867. Just east of Dao Cat Ba Island (near the port of Haiphong) the section sighted a motorized junk sailing among the karst outcrops which protruded from the water. Flight lead directed a set-up for low-level strafing runs againt the ship. As LTJG Brown completed his first run his aircraft impacted a karst outcrcop about 300 yards beyond the target. There was no indication that Brown had ejected before impact and subsequent search and rescue efforts failed to find any trace of him. A naval review board determined that all available evidence indicated that Brown had died in the crash and he was classed as "Killed in action, body not recovered". His remains have not been repatriated.