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| Brents Mynatt Lowry, Jr. |
Although some of my ancestors have served in the military, as far as I know, only one -- 2nd Lieutenant Brents Mynatt Lowry Jr., US Army Air Force -- died in wartime service to our country.
During recent genealogical research, I’ve learned a few things about who he was. Brents was my great-grandmother Mary Frazier Lowry Molloy’s nephew and my 1st cousin, twice removed.
Please honor 2Lt Brents M. Lowry, USAAF this Memorial Day 2016 by reading about his short life.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
-- 4th stanza from “Ode of Remembrance”
from the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon
Brents Mynatt Lowry, Jr. was born September 12, 1923 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Brents Mynatt Lowry, Sr. and Myrtle Newell Lowry. Brents Senior had already distinguished himself during World I as a member of of the 5th Marine Regiment “Devil Dogs”.
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| Receiving award for winning poster contest |
In 1930, the Census reported Brents Jr. was living at home with his parents. His father worked as a clerk at a bookstore in Chattanooga.
The 1940 Census had teenage Brents living at home with his parents and his younger sister Billie Faye.
In 1941, high school art student Brents won first prize in the May 24th Poppy Day creating a poster “Over the Top with The American Legion”.
I’m sure neither he nor his parents or extended family could’ve imagined him going to war in two years.
In 1942, with World War II already underway, at Chattanooga High School, Brents was inducted in the National Honor Society.
Brents was a member of the Church of Christ in Chattanooga and worked for the Chattanooga News-Free Press, and also the State and Tivoli Theaters before he entered military service.
I haven’t been able to find any details about when Brents joined the military, but we know he received his flying and officer training at Blackfield Army Air Base, near Waco, Texas. There, in March 1944 he received his wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.
In 1941, high school art student Brents won first prize in the May 24th Poppy Day creating a poster “Over the Top with The American Legion”.
I’m sure neither he nor his parents or extended family could’ve imagined him going to war in two years.
In 1942, with World War II already underway, at Chattanooga High School, Brents was inducted in the National Honor Society.
Brents was a member of the Church of Christ in Chattanooga and worked for the Chattanooga News-Free Press, and also the State and Tivoli Theaters before he entered military service.
I haven’t been able to find any details about when Brents joined the military, but we know he received his flying and officer training at Blackfield Army Air Base, near Waco, Texas. There, in March 1944 he received his wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.
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| 2nd Lieutenant Brents Mynatt Lowry, Jr. |
Sometime later that year, Lt Lowry was assigned to the 6th AAF Fighter Squadron of the newly established 1st Air Commando Group.
Brents was now a fighter pilot, flying the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, a single seat fighter first introduced during WWII in 1942.
The 1st Air Commando Group was assigned to the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater, and provided fighter cover, bombing, and air transport services for the “Chindits” a British India Special Force, fighting behind enemy lines in Burma (now Myanmar).
On December 1, 1944, Lowry’s squadron relieved their sister squadron, the 5th Fighter Squadron, based in Fenny, India. We don’t know when they arrived, or how much time they had to become oriented, but the very next day, they flew into combat.
Brents was now a fighter pilot, flying the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, a single seat fighter first introduced during WWII in 1942.
The 1st Air Commando Group was assigned to the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater, and provided fighter cover, bombing, and air transport services for the “Chindits” a British India Special Force, fighting behind enemy lines in Burma (now Myanmar).
On December 1, 1944, Lowry’s squadron relieved their sister squadron, the 5th Fighter Squadron, based in Fenny, India. We don’t know when they arrived, or how much time they had to become oriented, but the very next day, they flew into combat.
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| Aircraft at right was Lt Lowry's P-47D, tail no. 42-27710 |
On December 2, 1944, 21 year old 2Lt Brents M. Lowry and some of his squadron left Fenny on a strafing mission in the Meiktela (Burma) area. On the way back from that mission, they made an additional attack on some railroad box cars, and during this strafing run, Lt Lowry’s P-47 crashed and exploded, killing him instantly.
Early in 1945, Lowry’s remains and effects were returned and his father Brents Sr. and received his son’s posthumously awarded Purple Heart.
Only three weeks later, fellow pilot and squadron member, Lieutenant John J. Akstin, wrote Brents Jr.’s parents a touching letter, paying tribute to his departed friend and their beloved son.
I can’t imagine the combination of grief and comfort this letter evoked for Brents’ parents.
Tuesday, Dec. 26, 1944 Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lowry, Although we have never met, and perhaps you have never heard of me, somehow I feel that I know both of you, and your daughter Faye, very well. Before I go any further, perhaps I should explain myself. I have the honor of being able to call Brents the best and closest friend I’ve ever had. Therefore please allow me in my blundering way to ease, however minutely, the tremendous hurt caused you by the loss of your only son. Please accept my deepest sympathy. I know only too well how inadequate mere words are in a case like this but I know of no other way to express my feelings. As I mentioned before, Brents and I were very close together, had been so since graduation. Neither one of us ever did anything or went anywhere without the other. Actually I was over four years the senior, but mentally he was more than my equal. We had much the same views and ideas, the same tastes, likes and dislikes. We had so much in common. But for physical appearances we could have been brothers. The thing I admired him for most of all was his devotion to you, his parents. He spoke a great deal about you, always with pride, and he couldn’t hide the love he felt for you, or your love for him. In the pathetically short time granted us together he managed to leave me such an impression of you that I cannot regard you as strangers, but almost as uncle and aunt instead. He was very well liked by everyone, from the commanding officer down to the last man on the flight line. Not only well liked, but respected as well. The enlisted men looked up to him not only as an officer, but as a friend. In spite of all the petty jealousies encountered in the army I can truthfully say that I’ve never heard anyone speak of him in a degrading manner. Two days before he died for his country he drew up a money order in your name for an amount unknown to me. As the receipt for it was lost with him I instigated the proper steps to recover the amount of the money order, and I’ve also had shipped to you his personal effects. I’m sorry to say the proceedings will all take a great deal of time, so you shouldn’t expect his things for a few months. Among the personal effects are two snapshots, one taken in Miami just before we left the States. I’m the one seated on the extreme left in the picture showing four of us together. If there is any way I can help you, please permit me to do so. And I beg of you, please accept again my deepest heartfelt sympathy. John J. Akstin Lieutenant, Air Corps |
I can’t imagine the combination of grief and comfort this letter evoked for Brents’ parents.
And if this story were not tragic enough, less than three months later on March 7, 1945, Lt John J. Akstin himself perished in combat. Lt Akstin died at age 25 and was from Worcester, Massachusetts.
Brents M. Lowry only got to spend 21 years, 2 months, and 20 days on this earth. Had he enjoyed the longevity of many in his family, he might still be alive today in 2016, nearly 93 years old. It’s painful to think about all the moments he and his family never celebrated -- marriages, births, graduations, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. War robs us all of so many and so much.
Brents Lowry, Jr.’s grave is in Chattanooga Memorial Park, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Lt John J. Akstin’s grave is in the National Memorial Cemetery (aka "the Punchbowl"), Honolulu, Hawaii. Susan and I visited this cemetery in early 2008, but I didn't know of Lt Akstin at the time. I would have like to paid my respects to him there.
I leave you with this quote from Abraham Lincoln's "Bixby Letter" inscribed on the memorial at the Punchbowl.
Thank you for your service, Lt Lowry and Lt Akstin. You are not forgotten.
References:
Lowry/Molloy family records, photos, and newspaper clippings from Chattanooga News-Free Press.
Scrapbook of Donnie Molloy Ray
East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association
https://etvma.org/veterans/brents-m-lowry-jr-8612/
Find A Grave - Brents M. Lowry
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14578412
Air Commandos Against Japan: Allied Special Operations in World War II Burma
by William T. Y'Blood
Special Forces Roll of Honour
http://www.specialforcesroh.com/showthread.php?3203-Akstin-John-J
http://www.specialforcesroh.com/showthread.php?3203-Akstin-John-J
Find A Grave - John J. Akstin
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