LET US PROJECT THE NAVY’S SUCCESSFUL ADVANCE TO . . .

Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk

Let us project the Navy’s successful advance to the point where all forces have arrived at their assigned beaches . . . Off Scoglitti, aboard Kirk’s flagship, Ancon,

Ancon in 1945

one is keenly aware of the presence of Lieutenant John Mason Brown, celebrated newspaperman turned naval officer.  In 1942, at the age of forty-two, Brown resigned his post as drama critic of the New York World-Telegram and applied for a commission.  Urbane, erudite and witty, he was known to the flagship for his unique broadcasts to all hands––informal accounts of what was happening on the Sicilian and, later, Normandy beachheads.

    Here, Brown, who continually sought out combat assignments, reviews the approach and bombardment of Kirk’s CENT force.

From: The United States Navy in World War II
Compiled and edited by: S. E. Smith