Russell A. Brown entered the military service in Illinois. He served in the India-China Wing, Air Transport Command as a Second Lieutenant and Co-pilot on C-47A #43-15398 aircraft. This aircraft departed Lalmanirhat, India on 25 May 1944 for Chabua, India on a routine cargo run. This was an Air Transport Command aircraft assigned to Karachi and with an ATC crew aboard.

The aircraft did not arrive in Chabua, and no distress calls were received from the crew. The weather was very poor that day along its route, with scattered thunderstorms, low clouds and occasional zero visibility being reported. The last report on this aircraft states it is still missing in flight and the crew is presumed dead.

The wreckage of this aircraft was located november 2010 by Clayton Kuhles of miarecoveries.org in Bhutan, Tashigang State, south of the village of Sakden.

Russell was declared "Missing in Action" on May 26, 1945 and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is also commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China but death date is inscribed as 1944-05-25 and ranked as a Flight Officer.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, https://www.miarecoveries.org/reports/