George Frederick Brown Jr. was born January 18, 1924 in Port Dickson, Broome County, NY to George Frederick Brown Sr.(1899-1949) and Mary Camilla Reese (1899-1962). His parents were married on March 30, 1923 in Watertown, NY. His dad was original from Syracuse, NY. His mom was originally from Watertown, NY. George Jr. was the oldest of their four children which included David (1926-2015), Gary (b abt.1934) and Janet (b abt. 1936). The 1940 US Census recorded the family living at 170 Proctor Blvd, Utica, NY. His dad was a veteran of World War I and later a traveling salesman. George graduated from Utica Free Academy in 1941. While there he was known as "Fred" and was in the French Club, the Yearbook Staff, on the Debate Team and on the Classical Club.

George registered for the draft on June 30, 1942 in Utica, NY. He was 6'-1" tall and weighted 145 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair. He was working at Savage Arms Corporation on Turner St. in Utica, NY at the time. Records are scarce after he entered the service. We do know that in the summer of 1944 (July) he completed a nine week pilot training course on four-engine bombers at Maxwell Field, Alabama. He was at Mountain Home, Idaho in December 1944 and from there was assigned to TAAF (Topeka Army Air Field), Topeka, Kansas. We also know that at some point he was commissioned an officer and assigned the service number O-831104.

Sometime in early 1945 Lt. Brown joined the 506 Bomb Squadron at Shipdham, England and distinguished himself on a number of combat missions. On March 15, 1945 he was awarded the Air Medal and again on April 1, 1945 he was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster for his Air Medal. Four days later, on April 5, 1945 the 506th bombed the transportation network at Plauen, Germany. Ten aircraft from the 506th participated. Lt. Brown was flying a B-24 J-150-CO, SN #44-40-158, A/C #158, Bar Q, “Tinker Belle” when he and his crew were forced down in enemy territory.

One of the surviving crew, picked up later, S/Sgt. Howard Burkhart, testified that they had lost one engine to mechanical failure before arriving at the target so they couldn't keep up with the formation. According to S/Sgt. Burkhart, “The #1 engine was feathered, #2 was on fire and Lt. Brown was wounded. Engines #3 and #4 were smoking and the radio operator, S/Sgt. Travis Nash was killed by flak. The decision was made to try to land at Brussels, Belgium but they didn't make it. Flak, along with small arms fire, got them about 60 miles east of Koln.” Sgt. Burkhart further testified that "Lt. Brown had bailed out with the rest of the crew ...” His fate was unknown until after the war when evidence surfaced he had survived the parachute jump only to be captured and later killed by civilians.

In June 1947 the United States presented evidence in the War Crimes case No. 12-765 that two civilians had killed Lt. Brown “who was then an unarmed, surrendered prisoner of war in the custody of the then German Reich.” (The entire review and recommendations of this case are in the Supporting Documents section below. 11 pages.) Lt. Brown's remains were returned home to Watertown, NY and he was buried in the North Watertown Cemetery, Watertown, NY, Section S.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3.

(Please see - http://www.storiesbehindthestars.org).

Can you help us write these stories? Together We Served and Fold3/Find A Grave have smartphone apps that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery and read these stories of WWII fallen.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute, please contact Jim Greenberg at jim.greenberg@oneonta.edu.

SBTSProject/New York/Oneida

Sources

Academician, Yearbook of the Utica Free Academy, Utica, NY, 1941.

Aircrew Remembered, accessed at https://aircrewremembered.com/brown-f-george.html on September 29, 2026.

Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1847-1849, 1907-1936 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Deputy Judge Advocate's Office, 7708 War Crimes Group, European Command, June 27, 1947, Case No. 12-765, United States v. Christian Menrath, at al. accessed at the Jewish Virtual Library, at https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/dachautrial/fs56.pdf on September 29, 2026.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157126346/george_frederick-brown: accessed May 21, 2026), memorial page for George Frederick Brown Jr. (18 Jan 1924–5 Apr 1945), Find a Grave Memorial ID 157126346, citing North Watertown Cemetery, Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, USA; Maintained by B Rozpad (contributor 50074804).

Kiefer, Norman, "A History of the 506th Bomb Squadron, The Green-Nosed Flying 8 Balls", accessed at http://506bombsquadron.com/ on May 27, 2026.

National Archives at College Park, MD, 20740-6001; Missing Air Crew Report number 14110; Record Group 92: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General; Series: Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs); NAID: 91150233.

National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For New York State, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147

National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri: Air Force Award Cards [Air Medal]: Brooks, Samuel – Brown, Herschel; Record Group 64: Records of the National Archivews and Records Administration; NAID: 138712264;Series: Award Cards

New York State Department of Health; Albany, NY, USA; New York State Birth Index

"Promotions, Transfers of Area Service Men", The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY, July 2, 1944, pg. [illegible].

"U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Utica Free Academy; Year: 1941

Year: 1930; Census Place: Utica, Oneida, New York; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0152; FHL microfilm: 2341357

Supporting Documents

Full Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 

Other Supporting Documents

What follows are the 11 pages of the War Crimes Summary of his death.  These pages may NOT be in the correct order, they are taken as found from the original source.  Additionally, some of the pages appear to be truncated.