| Abstract |
Interviews detail Captain James Harvey Brown's background and education in South Dakota, his training at the naval academy, and his career as a naval officer. |
| General note | Interviewer: Donald R. Lennon. Interview dates: March 2, 1983, March 14, 1983, April 18, 1983, May 17, 1983, and June 14, 1983. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
James Harvey Brown Oral History Interview (#OH0076), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of James Harvey Brown. |
| Biographical note | Captain James Harvey Brown, a native of South Dakota, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1935. Between 1935 and 1938 he served in the U.S.S. ASTORIA and the destroyer REUBEN JAMES. In 1938 he was appointed to the Asiatic Squadron, where he was aboard the AUGUSTA until 1940. Brown was engineering officer on the USS SHAW (1941-1942) when it was bombed at Pearl Harbor and he oversaw the refitting of the ship at Mare Island Navy Yard in California. After promotion to lieutenant, he was assigned to the USS ABNER READ (1942-1944) and served as executive officer during the Kiska invasion and later in the South Pacific. He was promoted to lt. commander in 1943 and took command of the USS AMMEN (1944-1945). Promoted to commander in 1944, Brown became an instructor in the Department of Marine Engineering at the Naval Academy (1945-1947), and then a student at the Naval War College (1947-1948). As commanding officer of the USS DOUGLAS H. FOX (1948-1950), Brown took part in a goodwill tour to Africa and South America. From 1950-1953 he was instructor in the Command and Staff Department at the Naval War College before taking command of Escort Destroyer Division 62 (1953-1954) in the Atlantic Fleet, participating in hunter-killer operations there. Promoted to captain in 1954, Brown was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service in Gulf Subarea. In 1958 he took command of the USS MONTROSE and was deployed to the Western Pacific before assuming command of Destroyer Squadron 15 (1959) as part of the Seventh Fleet. His last assignment before retirement was as Chief of Staff to the Commander of the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba (1960-1961). After retirement from the Navy, Brown attended the Duke University Retired Officers Program before accepting a position as professor of Mathematics at Louisburg College, Louisburg, N.C. (1962-1978). |
