Harold Brown, a Madison (Wisconsin) native, discusses his fighter pilot service with the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. He talks about his youth lying on the Madison Capital Square grounds on hot summer nights and Pearl Harbor Day. Brown discusses his basic training in San Antonio (Texas) and his training as a P-51 Mustang pilot in Tampa (Florida). He talks about arriving in England in March 1943 as an 8th Air Force replacement pilot on P-47 aircraft. Brown recalls the story of a prostitute giving him a "lucky" rag doll in London in what was his first sexual experience before his first combat mission in May 1943 that he kept the past sixty years. He discusses flying sixty-seven missions during the war and one incident of throwing eggs at pilots in his Quonset hut which led to the flight surgeon sending him to a rest home for seven days. Brown talks about becoming a "dedicated killer" and the required fighter mission hours before a pilot could return home. Brown describes some missions during which he witnessed friends shot down and the effects that had on him. He recounts the scene flying over Omaha Beach on D-Day. Brown recalls being one of only three of twenty-four fighter pilots from his squadron to return home. He details the horror of strafing German trucks, tanks, and airfields. He talks about having PTSD since Desert Storm, recalling strafing trains near a school yard, and his questioning of God. Brown discusses advanced training fighter tactics and staying in the Air Force Reserve after the war. He talks about commanding eighty-four men at Rock County Airport in the Reserves during the Cold War training for a nuclear attack. Brown talks about getting ten-percent disability and being a retired officer. He tells of giving credit to those who died in the war and Martin Coffey's family legacy. He states he worked for forty years at Mautz Paint and belongs to the VFW, DAV and Reserve Officers Association. He concludes by mentioning combat incidents of his now-dead fighter pilot friends and reads a letter written to his mother while in combat.
