Brownlee remembers rebuilding airfields in Manila

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By JOE DUGAN / Lincoln Journal Star

World War II turned out to be a series of false starts for LaMoine Brownlee.

The journey started in April 1943 when he and 42 other ROTC members at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were activated by the Army.

During ROTC, he trained as an artillery officer. But after completing boot camp, he was assigned to learn airplane navigation. However, heavy American losses in Italy during the first half of 1944 caused the Army to switch gears again and reassign Brownlee back to artillery.

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LaMonie Brownlee, Lincoln

LaMonie Brownlee, Lincoln

Then they wanted him to take Officer Candidate School. Then he was assigned as a training officer at Camp Blanding in Florida.

“They couldn’t figure out what to do with me,” he said.

He was on leave in Lincoln when the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.

The war was over, but not for Brownlee.

He was assigned to the 869th Engineer Aviation Batallion, an African American unit serving in Manila. The unit rebuilt airfields and other buildings destroyed during the war. Brownlee served as their personnel officer.

Looking back on his experience, Brownlee said he wished the Army would have simply made him an artillery officer.

“I liked artillery. The math and plotting and figuring out angles,” he said. “But it didn’t turn out that way.”

But he’s very happy that it turned out he got a seat on the Heartland Honor Flight.

“It’s just a great honor,” he said. “I really want to show my appreciation to the organizers and Larry the Cable Guy.

“I think it’s a great privilege.”

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.