Chapter 43 - For The Good Of The Service

Use this section for any discussion specifically related to the chapters posted online of the unfolding biography, "Defying Gravity: The Parallel Universe of T. Townsend Brown
Paul S.
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Chapter 43 - For The Good Of The Service

Post by Paul S. »

can now be found here:

https://www.ttbrown.com/defying_gravity ... rvice.html


I will have more to say about this chapter, and what comes next (mostly getting ready for Las Vegas) after you've all had a chance to read it.

--PS
Paul Schatzkin
aka "The Perfesser"
"At some point we have to deal with the facts, not what we want to believe is true." -- Jack Bauer
Chris Knight
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Post by Chris Knight »

Paul,

Very nicely written.

Thank you so much for clearing up some unfortunate historical errors in this Chapter - finally a chance to sweep out some of the cobwebs from various sources !

My only other comment that throws the nervous breakdown story into question is that he was working for Vega two weeks after his discharge. Personally, if I ever have a "complete nervous collapse," I intend on resting for more than two weeks (and I hope I can tie up my personal effects as orderly as well).

Andrew

(I think I caught Victoria napping on this one !)
Last edited by Chris Knight on Thu Sep 07, 2006 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Trickfox
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Absolutely great

Post by Trickfox »

As usual, your writting is excellent. I really wish I could write like you do, but then I guess I really have to stick to what I'm best at.

The passion is real in these sentences.

I was shocked at the way the FBI started off but it looks like the authors Moore and Vassilos are responsible for the real damage.

Thank you Paul.

You bring my mind back down to Earth with this stuff.
BTW I did fall into your Where's Waldo trap.

This is the second time, and I knew there was something familliar with it.

Tricked fox
The psychopropulsier (as pointed out in the book The Good-bye man by Linda Brown and Jan Lofton) is a Quantum entanglement project under development using Quantum Junctions. Join us at http://www.Peeteelab.com
Victoria Steele
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Breathless, speechless again

Post by Victoria Steele »

DAMN. Caught asleep at the switch.

I don't even know how to respond right now except to tell you that you have lived up to my expectations for deep and careful research!

All of us can make a mistake here or there but it has been so hard to see things published with no back up. You know me, that really rings my doorbell and then I get angry when there is no one behind the door when I go to the effort to open the door (read the book) I go ding, ding, ding ... sit down and read and then get angry because I am expected to believe some writer who has obviously not done his work. That has always made me the crusader. But Paul ...... My doorbell has rung and there is STUFF THERE ... a whole mountainload of stuff that I can check out and verify and I know will hold up! You have earned my deepest respect..

I especially appreciated the way that you mentioned Moore and Vassilatos and others. No sense of vincictiveness, just the facts. ...... finally ........ DAMN. GOOD WORK PAUL!!!!!! More comments later, so much to chew on!
Can't wait!

Good tasty stuff. "self confessed homosexual?" which means what ... He just walked into some office and said .... " I am gay, you guys need to boot me out" (of a Navy I have loved since I was three years old ..... and Oh by the way .... I'm taking my stuff too ..... and in two weeks .... (after I cure myself of this nervous breakdown .... and cure that odd thing about it being wartime and my lack of clearances .... I will just go to work for one of the most secret facilities on the west coast." Yeah, that works.

I wish I had met the man but thanks so much for telling his real story, as difficult as I know that has been. I know its not going to get any easier But this is GOOD STUFF!

Victoria
LongboardLOVELY
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Minesweeping and ...

Post by LongboardLOVELY »

This was a good chapter, Paul. Well written.

I have been reading a book called SEAPOWER as STRATEGY Navies and National Interests. I'll loan you the book after November. You have too much to be getting on with...

I was on Chapter 7 and 8 last night; Chapter 7 is titled War with Limited Sea control: Britian and World War I. The author makes specific mention of mine barrage in the North Sea created mainly with US Mines , to cut off U-boat access through the gap into the North Atlantic. The Mine Barrage area was one of three connected areas that protected the North Sea entrance into the Atlantic, between Scotland and Norway.

Reading your chapter this morning about his work with minesweeping was a very strange coincidence! Andy was standing right behind me as I reached that section in your chapter; I jumped up and ran to the bedroom to show him the section I was reading just 10 hours earlier!

Anyways, glad to see you back and in fine form! More later.

Linda
Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction. ~ Albert Einstein
twigsnapper
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considerable drinking

Post by twigsnapper »

Well done son.

snorting here a bit. Yes, the FBI had noted quite accurately that Townsend Brown was travelling "with a group which did considerable drinking" in 1938. He was on board the USS Nashville. I don't know that the US sailors get as their rum allotment but whatever they get, they most likely take advantage. Good company. As to him being involved with other ladies, be clear. Ladies liked Townsend Brown. ALOT. Much to my sometimes consternation.

But take a long look at the couple at the Mayflower. Is there any doubt in the world that she was the one and only love of his life at the time? Twigsnapper
Paul S.
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Re: considerable drinking

Post by Paul S. »

twigsnapper wrote:Well done son.
Thank you. I haven't gotten tired yet of hearing that. Thank you, and Andy and Linda and Raymond and victoria for the kind words.
snorting here a bit. Yes, the FBI had noted quite accurately that Townsend Brown was travelling "with a group which did considerable drinking" in 1938. He was on board the USS Nashville. I don't know that the US sailors get as their rum allotment but whatever they get, they most likely take advantage.
Given that I'm getting a tad more cautious about such things in my old age, I also noted when I read that section of the FBI report that it says that he "he traveled with a group which did considerable drinking" -- it does NOT say that HE himself did considerable drinking.
Ladies liked Townsend Brown. ALOT. Much to my sometimes consternation.
Sounds like something else he had in common with Morgan <g>
But take a long look at the couple at the Mayflower. Is there any doubt in the world that she was the one and only love of his life at the time?
No doubt in my mind, but... what I want to know is... who is that OTHER couple???

--PS
Paul Schatzkin
aka "The Perfesser"
"At some point we have to deal with the facts, not what we want to believe is true." -- Jack Bauer
twigsnapper
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relatives visiting

Post by twigsnapper »

Relatives visiting from Zanesville "donchaknow". Ask your Zanesville source. I believe that the lady might be Townsend Browns cousin? Twigsnapper
twigsnapper
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much in common

Post by twigsnapper »

Yes, I found myself compelled to add something more.

I would venture to say that you are right, both Morgan and Doctor Brown had the ability to catch a womans attention. With Dr. Brown I noticed that women liked his vunerability (which he played up on) , his " little boy lost" look, we used to call it. Secretaries who would have scorched the eyebrows off other interlopers to their time would serve him tea and make sure that it was Earl Grey and exactly the way he liked it.

Morgan has always evoked more of a dangerous interest in the women who frequented his world. He's never been the one to volunteer information about himself and of course that lends mystique. One frustrated would- be love interest called him "Impossible" quite a few times before she finally gave up and went away. He made no comment on her exit but still enjoyed the sight of her walking away, I think.

Dr. Brown was blessed with a devoted wife who understood what his life was going to be and then doubly blessed by a daughter who understood as much as she was allowed to understand. His concern for her and her future shows in everything he did. You will see what a golden common thread that will be as this story unfolds.

And you see the odd thing is that Morgan was able to share concern and love for that same golden thread, though his lifestyle never allowed him to make the home he perhaps would have wanted. Its just another side of that same thread.

Don't know why I needed to say that. Perhaps you understand Paul. Twigsnapper
LongboardLOVELY
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Mrs. Jo Brown

Post by LongboardLOVELY »

WHAT exactly is a "district supervisor of the W. P. A. housekeeping aid project of District No. 3 "?
Last I heard, she was possibly working undercover. This is her "cover" for being undercover? Hmm. Interesting

Linda
Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction. ~ Albert Einstein
Mark Culpepper
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why ESPIONAGE?

Post by Mark Culpepper »

Thats very interesting Paul, that the FBI would have been investigating Townsend Brown on "allegations of espionage". When all through his files and personel files he has nothing but good marks and even the FBI says later that his loyalty is not to be questioned.

So why were they looking at him for espionage activities? Forgive me if I am jumping the gun here but it seems pretty darned obvious. If anyone had been able to link him in any way to Stephensons BSC I imagine that the FBI would have been all over Townsend Brown like white on rice. Maybe someone leaked the information to the FBI. I imagine that Hoover wanted to know about every single BSC agent.

And maybe the FBI was suspicious of the actions of a person that was SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN AN OBVIOUS SECURITY RISK but who MUST have had some friends in some very high places to end up, within weeks, in a highly advanced and secret facility. I can just see Hoovers nose twitching ...... Stephenson ..... its got to be Stephenson. Who else would have an interest in radar AND advanced aircraft design? Hoover might have gotten a little strange but he was in his heyday then and he took his position seriously and England was a foriegn entity operating in the states. That must not have set well with a man that protective of his turf.

Do you have any idea at all what it was that put the FBI on Dr. Browns trail? ( Good thing it happened actually or you wouldn't even have that bit of information, I would wager! )

Boy, this is a great story.

And Josephine was a cutie thats for sure. Mark C.
Mark Culpepper
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undercover work?

Post by Mark Culpepper »

I thought that too Linda. What the heck was Josephine doing working for "Housekeeping?

And here is the interesting thing. She must have been doing that work for that agency BEFORE they remarried. The marriage announcement stated that she was already living in Washington and already had that job.

So why did she move to Washington when she was being so active and busy being the divorcee in Zanesville? Oh, well, silly question. Look at the expression on their faces. Whatever spark they carried for each other had definitely not gone out.

Housekeeping Aid Project of District Number Three. HUH. I' would bet again (this is my night for making wagers) .... that the "housekeeping " mentioned involved something to do with the BSC.

Maybe it was Josephines activities that turned the FBI s attention toward Dr. Brown? Now there is a strange consideration. (Thats usually how it happens says my brother, who knows about such things. Usually when someone gets "mentioned" to the FBI its because of someone else close to them.)

How can it get any more interesting? Mark C.
Paul S.
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Re: why ESPIONAGE?

Post by Paul S. »

Mark Culpepper wrote:Forgive me if I am jumping the gun here but it seems pretty darned obvious. If anyone had been able to link him in any way to Stephensons BSC I imagine that the FBI would have been all over Townsend Brown like white on rice. Maybe someone leaked the information to the FBI. I imagine that Hoover wanted to know about every single BSC agent.
That's my suspicion, too, that Hoover put somebody on Brown because of his association with Stephenson. In my research I've seen some references to the disdain that Hoover held for first Stephenson, and then Donovan once OSS got up and running; Hoover thought anything having to do with surveillance activities was his domain and harbored resentments and suspicions of anybody who dared to enter that turf.

Now that I think about it, perhaps there's some room at the end of that section about Churchill and Stephenson starting up BSC to add a paragraph or two about Hoover's role in all this, and then connect the FBI report to that. Then the "allegations of espionage" would not be such a non-sequitur when they show up.

Thanks for reminding me about that angle.

-PS
Paul Schatzkin
aka "The Perfesser"
"At some point we have to deal with the facts, not what we want to believe is true." -- Jack Bauer
Mikado14
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fat in the fire

Post by Mikado14 »

Here's a question for the forum and for you Paul.

Under the UCMJ there are only five types of discharge( I'm running from memory here so correct me if I'm wrong, Please)

Honorable
Usually given at the end of enlistment or for a service related injury.

General under Honorable Conditions
Usually given when service was complete or incomplete but was not satisfactory to military standards

Other than Honorable (sometimes referred to as an SD for Special Dispensation)
This is usually given for misconduct or security reasons

Bad Conduct
This one is for what it says but usually after a court martial

Dishonorable
Like above but for more serious infractions where seperation is part of the punishment.

If my memory serves me correct this morning, if you have anything other than an Honorable Discharge, you won't work for the Federal Government.

What I seemed to have missed in the Chapter was, what type of Discharge did Dr. Brown receive?

Furthermore, if there was homosexuality involved, the discharge would have been a General.

Now, an Officer can resign their commission but it has to be approved during time of war. Somehow, I think in the time of war that the service would not have accepted the resignation just for that infraction.

Me thinks the games afoot Watson!
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy
Paul S.
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Types of Discharge

Post by Paul S. »

Mikado14 wrote:Under the UCMJ there are only five types of discharge( I'm running from memory here so correct me if I'm wrong, Please
Your memory is OK, Mikado, but I think there is a time factor here that needs to be considered. According to the sources over at the military.com forums who answered my questions about "PSANDT", the UCMJ did not go into effect until 1951. Prior to that military procedures were governed by something called "Articles of War."

Like you, I am familiar with the kind of "discharge" terminology that you cite above (honorable, general, dishonorable, etc.). So I was a little mystified that I could find no such terminology anywhere in the service records that the Navy has supplied. There is a lovely certificate signed by President Roosevelt conveying Brown's promotion to full lieutenant, but there is no "discharge" certificate as we might expect.

The only word I could find is "detached." Brown was "detached" from the Navy. Beyond that... all we get is Capt. Hinkamp's "no comment."

--PS
Paul Schatzkin
aka "The Perfesser"
"At some point we have to deal with the facts, not what we want to believe is true." -- Jack Bauer
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