First Lieutenant Brown was a veteran of World War II. In Korea, he was the radar operator of a F3D-2 Douglas Skyknight fighter with the Marine Night Fighter Squadron 513, Marine Air Group 33, 1st Marine Air Wing. On August 15, 1952, while on a night combat mission over the Yellow Sea about 50 miles west of Pyongyang, North Korea, radio and radar contact was lost. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on January 7, 1954. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.