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Program: CAPT George E. Brown Lecture Series
Program Contact Information:
Robert Saul
Cincinnati, Ohio
(513) 552-2347
BobSaul@worldnet.att.net
Description
In 1995 the Cincinnati Council established the Captain George E. Brown Lecture Series.
The distinguished list of speakers includes:
Captain Edward L. Beach
Admiral Charles R. Larson
Vice Admiral Arthur E. Henn
Commander Michael C. Beck
Burt Logan
Samuel Thorne Jr.
Captain Robert C. Klosterman
Dick Cheney
Lieutenant General Carol Mutter
Doctor Henry J. Heimlich
BIOGRAPHY:
GEORGE ESTABROOK BROWN
After two years at Yale University, Mr. Brown joined the U.S. Navy in 1940, helping to inaugurate the V-7 reserve training program. He entered submarines in 1942, making five combat patrols with the USS SCULPIN, where he was Chief Engineering Officer.
On November 19, 1943, under a new skipper, Commander Fred Connaway, the SCULPIN attacked a Japanese convoy off the coast of Truk Island in the Pacific.
For hours, the SCULPIN dueled with the destroyer Yamagumo, sustaining enormous damage. In desperation, Connaway ordered the sub to surface and shoot it out with the destroyer. The SCULPINS one 4-inch and two 20-mm guns were no match for a Japanese destroyer with six 5.1-inch guns, torpedo tubes and automatic weapons. One of the first hits on the sub went through the conning tower, killing all of the senior officers. Twenty-four-year-old George Brown was the highest-ranking officer left alive. He ordered that the sub be sunk and that the crew abandon ship.
A passenger, Captain John P. Cromwell, decided to go down with the sub, as he knew of the secret plans for the invasions of the Gilbert Islands and U.S. codebreaking activities. He received the posthumous Medal of Honor. About a quarter of the crew survived as prisoners of war to be sent to the Ashio copper mines. As the only surviving officer, Mr. Brown spent two years in labor and interrogation camps in Japan.
Mr. Brown, a 25-year employee with The Procter & Gamble Company, retired in 1976. He devoted his time to corresponding with other submarine veterans, attending and promoting submarine veterans conventions and going to sea on his 45-foot ketch.
Mr. Brown maintained homes in Cincinnati and Naples, Florida. He was a member of the Naples Auxiliary Coast Guard, served as Vice Commodore of Devon Yacht Club in Omangansett, Long Island, NY and served as Governor of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Ohio.
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