1st Lieutenant Arthur Leslie Brown (1919-1944) was an American airman who lost his life in the Second World War (1939 to 1945) when his stricken Thunderbolt plane crashed near the River Weaver in Nantwich. He was just 23 years old when he died. He crashed into running sand and his body, and the plane, have never been recovered. A memorial monument commemorates what he was doing when he died. The inscrition on his memroial tablet reads:
HERE LIES 1ST LIEUTENANT / ARTHUR L. BROWN / USAAF / AGED 23 YEARS / OF NEW YORK / WHO CRASHED / IN HIS THUNDERBOLT / TO AVOID THIS TOWN / JAN 14TH 1944 / WITH SYMPATHY AND RESPECT
He didn’t use his first name, and his friends called him by his middle name Leslie, or just Les.
A service is held at the grave on the Sunday nearest to January 14 each year. On the 80th anniversary a special service was held in St Mary’s Nantwich, which was followed by a march to the grave and the laying of wreaths.
Wreaths were laid by Nantwich & District Branch of the Royal British Legion, Royal Air Forces Association, 100 (Nantwich) Squadron Royal Air Force Air Cadets, Nantwich Town Council and other representatives of local organisations.
Further information about Arthur Leslie Brown is available on Paul Chiddick’s website:
https://chiddicksfamilytree.com/2023/09/17/the-pilots-grave