It's December the 4th, 1950
and Lieut. Thomas J. Hudner is flying his F4U Corsair
above the forests and mountains of North Korea
deep into enemy territory.
All is not well.
His element leader and friend, Ensign Jesse L. Brown,
has been forced to crash his Corsair on a mountainside
after taking damage from enemy fire.
The weather is bitterly cold
and enemy forces are in the area
and almost certainly on their way to capture the downed pilot.
Hudner flies over the stricken plane
and is relieved to see Brown push the canopy of the cockpit back
and wave to signal he's okay.
But even though smoke is coming from under the cowling
Brown does not leave the aircraft!
Realizing something is dreadfully amiss
Hudner makes a dramatic and incredibly brave decision.
He too will put his plane down on the mountainside
to try and save his friend.
Brown grew up in Mississippi in a time of racial segregation.
He was born into an impoverished family,
but his parents made education a priority
and he graduated from high school.
He had a passion for aircraft and flying.
To pay for his further education
Jesse waited tables at a bar for U.S. Army soldiers
where he was frequently subject to racism.
He managed to earn $600 to pay for college
and graduated from Ohio State University.
Enlisting in the Navy he earned his pilot wings
and was the first African-American aviator in the Navy
to pass basic training.
Jesse was married to his wife Daisy,
they had a daughter – Pam.
Tom Hudner came from a well-to-do family
and was due to go to Harvard
but instead he volunteered for the Navy.
Despite the two men’s very different backgrounds
they became firm friends.
In 1950 they were both on the aircraft carrier USS Leyte
as part of squadron “VF-32”.
They were Flying F4U-4 Corsairs
conducting missions deep into North Korea
to support US Marines on the ground.
The Corsair was a snarling beast of an aircraft
with a reputation of being fun, but hard to handle.
It had an 18 cylinder radial engine with over 2,100 horsepower.
In his later years, Tom spoke of the events of that day.
This audio is of Tom in his own words
telling how he met and became friends with Jesse
and the incredible story of how he tried to save his friend
back in the Winter of 1950.
On December the 4th, 1950
the men formed part of an element flying a mission
to support US Marines near the Chosin reservoir.
Eventually the rescue helicopter got there.
But despite their best efforts Jesse could not be freed
and he was succumbing to the bitter cold.
Even getting to the cockpit was very difficult with the airplane on a slope
and with the deep snow.
They considered more extreme measures to get Jesse out of the plane,
but with the conditions they had it was virtually impossible.
Deep in enemy territory,
in the mountains with night falling and with the prospect of capture
they were forced to make the difficult decision on what to do next.
Tom spoke to the helicopter pilot:
For his extreme bravery Tom was awarded the medal of honor by President Truman.
Jesse's wife Daisy was present at the ceremony to represent Jesse
and so Tom was on that day able to keep his promise
and deliver the last words of his friend.
Some months later Daisy experienced an incident
that happened while walking home.
She gave an interview recounting the story in detail.
She was walking home from class going back to her apartment
and as she got in the complex
she looked down at her car and stopped.
She asked her friend:
"Look at my car and tell me what you see".
Her friend replied:
"That's Jesse sitting in your car!"
Both woman agreed that they could see Jesse in his green uniform
sitting in his Dodge Wayfarer.
When they got up close to the car, he was gone.
Daisy was certain that she had been visited by the spirit of Jessie, and said:
“Wherever he was, he was watching over Pam and me.”