Sponsored by:

Navy Federal Credit Union
Ralph
Warren D.
Brown
POW (WWII) KIA
October 13, 1903

–

January 31, 1945

Cemetery:

Arlington National Cemetery

Ralph Brown graduated from Vancouver (Washington) High School in 1922, and attended the University of Washington where he graduated in 1926. He entered Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, and was ordained a Methodist minister after graduation in 1931. From 1931 o 1936 he pastored the Highland Park and Asbury Methodist Churches in Seattle, and in 1936 moved with his family to Gooding, Idaho, where he pastored Gooding United Methodist Church until 1937. In 1937 he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces as a chaplain and was commissioned a first lieutenant. In 1939 he was assigned to Clark Field in the Philippine Islands, where his family joined him in 1940. With tensions mounting and war looking probable, his family returned to the United States in May 1941. Chaplain Brown was captured during the fall of the Philippine Islands and was held as a Prisoner of War. In December 1944, he was boarded onto the Oryoku Maru, a Japanese “Hell Ship,” for transport to Japan. The ship was sunk by American planes at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, on December 15, 1944. It is believed he survived and subsequently died in a POW camp in Japan the following month.

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Service Cross

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    Captain (Chaplain’s Corps)

    Division:

    U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE)

    Action Date:

    December 8, 1941
    Headquarters, U.S. Army Forces in the Far East, General Orders No. 18 (January 31, 1942)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain (Chaplain’s Corps) Ralph Warren D. Brown (ASN: 0-20862), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as a Chaplain with the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), in action against enemy forces at Clark Field, Fort Stotsenburg, Pampanga, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on 8 December 1941. While an intensive and sustained aerial bombardment and strafing attack were inflicting heavy casualties on personnel at his station, Chaplain Brown, under severe fire and without consideration of his own safety, drove in his personal automobile through the area being attacked, collecting wounded, administrating first aid and transporting casualties to the Fort Stotsenburg Hospital. In spite of enemy attacks recurring at short intervals, this officer made no fewer than six such trips, each with a full load of such casualties, in imminent danger from enemy bombardment and machine gunning. His actions beyond the reasonable demand of his duty, saved many of the wounded from death or further mutilation. Chaplain Brown’s intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.