Master Sergeant Brown was a crew member of a RB-50 jet bomber with the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, U.S. Air Force. On 29 July 1953, his plane was shot down by two Russian MiG-15's over the Sea of Japan off the coast of Russia.

Brown was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.