World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseFrancis Elwood Brown was born in Reno, Nevada, United States in 1911. During the war, he held command of submarines USS S-39 between Mar 1942 and Aug 1942, at the rank of lieutenant, and USS S-44 between Oct 1942 and Oct 1943, as a lieutenant through Apr 1943 and thereafter as a lieutenant commander. On 7 Oct 1943, he and his crew made a judgement error while patrolling Japanese controlled waters off the northern Kurile Islands, mistaking the armed escort vessel Ishigaki for a civilian ship. S-44 was sunk by Ishigaki's return fire, killing all but two of S-44's officers and men, including Brown. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart medal.

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