He graduated as salutatorian of his high school, notwithstanding its racial segregation, and later earned a degree from Ohio State University.

In January 1949 he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Leyte based at Naval Air Station Quonset Point.

Brown, an ensign, had already flown 20 combat missions when his Corsair came under fire and crashed on a remote mountaintop on December 4, 1950, while supporting ground troops at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.

Brown died of his wounds despite the efforts of his wingman, Thomas J. Hudner Jr., who intentionally crashed his own aircraft nearby in a rescue attempt, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

[7] At the beginning of the Great Depression, John Brown lost his job and relocated the family to Palmer's Crossing, 10 miles (16 km) from Hattiesburg, where he worked at a turpentine factory until he was laid off in 1938.

[7] During this time, Jesse Brown shared a bed with his brothers (as was common among many families) and attended a one-room school 3 miles (4.8 km) away.

[11] Brown gained an intense interest in flying from this experience, and afterward, was attracted to a dirt airfield near his home, which he visited frequently in spite of being chased away by a local mechanic.

[7] At the age of thirteen, Brown took a job as a paperboy for the Pittsburgh Courier, a Black press paper,[12] and developed a desire to pilot while reading in the newspaper about African-American aviators of the time including C. Alfred Anderson, Eugine Jacques Bullard, and Bessie Coleman.

[7] He also became an avid reader of Popular Aviation and the Chicago Defender, which he later said heavily influenced his desire to fly naval aircraft.

[15] Brown took several side jobs to save money for college, including waiting tables at the Holmes Club, a saloon for white U.S. Army soldiers.

In this job, Brown was frequently the target of racist vitriol and abuse, but he persevered, earning US$600 (equivalent to $10,400 in 2023) to pay for college.

[16] Brown moved into an on-campus boarding house at 61 East Eleventh Avenue in the primarily Black neighborhood of the University District in Columbus.

He took a job as a janitor at a local Lazarus department store and was hired by the Pennsylvania Railroad to load boxcars from 15:30 to midnight each day.

A $50 monthly stipend (equivalent to $780 in 2023) allowed him to quit his jobs and concentrate on his studies; he completed his architectural engineering degree in 1947.

[24] In spite of overt racism from at least one instructor and several classmates at this posting,[5] Brown completed the rigorous training in August 1947.

Author Theodore Taylor later wrote that through Brown's efforts to become a pilot, he had broken the "color barrier" which had been longstanding at preventing Black people in naval aviation.

[24] Over the next 18 months, the unit conducted numerous training exercises along the East Coast, many of them taking place at Quonset Point.

[34] To prevent South Korea's collapse, the United Nations Security Council voted to send military forces.

The ship sailed from the Strait of Gibraltar across the Atlantic Ocean and to Quonset, then through the Panama Canal and to San Diego, California, Hawaii, and Japan before arriving in Korea around October 8.

[24] These missions included attacks on communication lines, troop concentrations, and military installations around Wonsan, Chongpu, Songjim, and Senanju.

[41][42] On December 4, 1950, Brown was part of a six-aircraft flight supporting U.S. Marine Corps ground troops trapped by Chinese forces.

[45] The flight traveled 100 miles (160 km) to the Chosin Reservoir, flying 35 to 40 minutes in very harsh wintery conditions to the vicinity of the villages of Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri.

[45] In the crash, Brown's leg was pinned beneath the fuselage of the aircraft, and he stripped off his helmet and gloves in an attempt to free himself, before waving to the other pilots, who were circling close overhead.

[50] They received a signal that a rescue helicopter would come as soon as possible, but Brown's aircraft was smoking and a fire had started near its internal fuel tanks.

"[24][42] The helicopter, which was unable to operate in the darkness, was forced to return to base at nightfall with Hudner, leaving Brown behind.

"[24] As word of his death spread, Brown inspired numerous other African Americans to become pilots, notably Seaman Apprentice Frank E. Petersen.

[24] On 17 February 1973, the Navy commissioned the Knox-class frigate USS Jesse L. Brown (FF-1089), the third U.S. ship named in honor of an African American.

The "A Pilot Light the Way" exhibit opened at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and other locations.

[2] Brown's military decorations and awards included the following:[1][a] His Distinguished Flying Cross citation reads: The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown (NSN: 0-504477), United States Navy, for heroism in aerial flight as Pilot of a fighter plane in Fighter Squadron Thirty-Two (VF-32), attached to the USS Leyte (CV-32), in hostile attacks on hostile North Korean forces.

Participating in 20 strikes on enemy military installations, lines of communication, transportation facilities, and enemy troop concentrations in the face of grave hazard, at the Chosin Reservoir, Takshon, Manp Jin, Linchong, Sinuiju, Kasan, Wonsan, Chonjin, Kilchu, and Sinanju during the period 12 October to 4 December 1950.