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Don Brown (author)

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Don Brown
Brown in 2017
Brown in 2017
Born (1960-06-03) June 3, 1960 (age 64)
Plymouth, North Carolina, U.S.
OccupationAuthor; Attorney; Former Naval Officer
EducationUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA)
Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law (JD)
GenreThriller, fiction, Nonfiction, history, biography, military
Notable worksTreason, Black Sea Affair, Malacca Conspiracy, Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six, The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II
Children3
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service / branch United States Navy
Rank Lieutenant Commander
Website
donbrownbooks.com

Donald Mitchell Brown, Jr. (born June 3, 1960) is an American author, attorney, and former United States Navy JAG Officer. He has published fifteen books on the United States military, including eleven military-genre novels,[1] the best known of which is Treason (2005) in which radical Islamic clerics infiltrate the United States Navy Chaplain Corps.[2][3] He has published four works of military nonfiction, including his national bestseller, The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II (2017).[4][5][6][7][8] Brown may be best known for his work as legal counsel to Army Lieutenant Clint Lorance, who had been convicted of murder by a military court-martial at Fort Bragg when his platoon became involved in a firefight in Afghanistan in 2011, and his authorship of the 2019 book Travesty of Justice: The Shocking Prosecution of Lt. Clint Lorance. On November 15, 2019, President Donald Trump pardoned Lorance,[9] and the book is considered to be a factor in leading to that pardon.[10] Between the release of Travesty of Justice on March 31, 2019, and Lorance's pardon on November 15, 2019, Brown made numerous national television appearances and penned a number of national Op-eds urging President Trump to free and exonerate Lieutenant Lorance.[11] On the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, November 27, 2019, Brown and Lorance appeared on Hannity, the nightly national broadcast on the Fox News Channel to discuss the presidential pardon and release.[12][13]

Early life and education

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Brown was born in Plymouth in Washington County, North Carolina, on June 3, 1960.[14] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Juris Doctor degree from Campbell University's Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law.

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Brown spent five years as a military attorney in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps.[15] He earned a nonresident certificate in International Law from the Naval War College, and published a legal position paper in the Navy's Law Review on how to defend against temporary injunctions filed against the military.[16] He remained on inactive status with the Navy until 1999, when he separated from the service as a lieutenant commander.[17] Brown also worked as a special assistant to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California.[17]

He is currently licensed to practice in North and South Carolina, and is the owner of Brown & Associates, PLLC, a law firm located in Charlotte, North Carolina,[18] where he practices law in the areas of civil litigation, military law, criminal defense, family law, and estate planning.

In 2018, Brown joined the legal team as one of four military JAG officers representing Army First Lieutenant Clint Lorance, and in 2019 published the book Travesty of Justice: The Shocking Prosecution of Lt. Clint Lorance. Lorance had been convicted for second-degree murder in 2013 by a military court-martial, when American paratroopers in his platoon on his command fired on three men on a motorcycle in Afghanistan who were speeding towards their position. In Travesty of Justice, Brown laid out the defense contentions, including the claim that Army prosecutors withheld biometrics evidence proving that the motorcycle riders were enemy Taliban bombmakers. In a series of national television appearances and Op-eds for Fox News in the summer of 2019, Brown pressed Lorance's case further, urging President Donald Trump to provide presidential relief for Lorance, and accused the military justice system of corruption for the prosecutions of Lorance, Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, and Army Green Beret Matt Golsteyn.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]

Authorship

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Brown discussing The Last Fighter Pilot at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, 2017

Brown is the author of Zondervan Publishing's Navy Justice series with the fiction works Treason (2005), Hostage (2005), Defiance (2006), Black Sea Affair (2008),[28] and Malacca Conspiracy (2010), in which terrorists launch attacks against oil tankers in the Malacca Straights.[29][30][31]

In his Pacific Rim series, Brown wrote his sixth novel Thunder in the Morning Calm (2011) on the issue of whether American servicemen who were listed as MIAs may still be alive in North Korea since the Korean War. Brown stated in interviews that he wrote it to bring attention to the issue.[32] His seventh novel Fire of the Raging Dragon, a geopolitical action-thriller set in the South China Sea, was released through HarperCollins publishers in November 2012.[33][34][35]

Brown wrote Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six (2015) on the August 2011 downing of a United States Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter in the War in Afghanistan which killed the air crew along with seven Afghan military personnel and 17 members of Navy SEAL Team Six.[36] Brown retells the wartime action, explains the life stories of the service members killed that day, and examines the official military explanation of the incident contained in the infamous Colt Report, arguing that series of events were gross incompetence or a massive cover-up.[37]

Brown & Jerry Yellin discuss the book The Last Fighter Pilot, at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in 2017

In March 2017, Brown released his nonfiction work The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II.[38][39][40] The book features the true story of Captain Jerry Yellin, U.S. Army Air Force, who flew the final combat mission of World War II over Japan on August 15, 1945,[41][42] from Iwo Jima, and focuses on the last six months of the air war against Japan, flown by American fighter pilots who were stationed on Iwo Jima, who arrived on the island in March 1945, and remained there until the war's end.[43][44]

In August 2017, Brown and Yellin appeared together to kick off the book's release at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library[45][46][47] and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California to discuss the book and Yellin's experiences in the war.[48][49] Publishers Weekly announced that the book had been named to it national bestseller's list for hardcover nonfiction for the week ending August 7, 2017.[50] The popular magazine and website Townhall named Last Fighter Pilot as one of "10 World War II Books Every American Should Read."[51]

Published works

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Books

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Navy Justice Series

  • Treason (Zondervan Publishing, 2005) ISBN 0310259339
  • Hostage (Zondervan Publishing, 2006) ISBN 0310259347
  • Defiance (Zondervan Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0310272130
  • Black Sea Affair (Zondervan Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0310272149
  • Malacca Conspiracy (Zondervan Publishing 2010) ISBN 0310272157[52]
  • Destiny (Mountainview Books, LLC, 2014) ISBN 9781941291061

Pacific Rim Series

Navy JAG Series

Nonfiction


Law review articles

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  • Temporary Injunctions Aimed at the Military: A Rapid Response Plan for Government Lawyers, by Lieutenant Donald M. Brown, Jr. JAGC, USNR, 40 Naval L. Rev. 157 (1992)

Fox News op-eds

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  • Don Brown, "President Trump, please free Army Lt. Clint Lorance, unjustly convicted of murder in Afghanistan", Fox News, May 7, 2019[54]
  • Don Brown, "It's time for Trump to clean out corruption in the military justice system", Fox News, June 14, 2019[55]
  • Don Brown, "Prosecuting American warriors for killing the enemy undermines 'America first'", Fox News, July 1, 2019[56]
  • Don Brown, "Not guilty verdict for Navy SEAL Gallagher is welcome news – He shouldn't have been prosecuted", Fox News, July 3, 2019[57]
  • Don Brown, "Eddie Gallagher is cleared, but two other officers face bogus politically driven murder charges", Fox News, July 8, 2019[58]
  • Don Brown, "Policy banning military from carrying guns on US bases should end", Fox News, July 27, 2019[59]
  • Don Brown, "Trump's pardon of Army Lt. Clint Lorance on wrongful war crime conviction serves justice", Fox News, November 16, 2019[60]
  • Don Brown, "Deadly 'green on blue' attacks by Islamic allied nation troops against Americans must end", Fox News, February 15, 2020[61]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "50 Years of 'Christy' - Why Catherine Marshall's Classic Endures - Family Fiction". Family Fiction. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Treason: Book One in Don Brown's Navy Justice Series - Yahoo Voices". 28 July 2014. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  3. ^ Poling, Dean. "Book review: 'Treason' and 'Hostage' / Don Brown". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Jerry Yellin details his military experience in 'The Last Fighter Pilot'". The Washington Times. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Larry Elder Radio Show Hour 1 08/02/2017". Retrieved 22 December 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ New York Times article on death of Captain Jerry Yellin, by Richard Goldstein, referencing the book The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II- December 24, 2017
  7. ^ Washington Post article on death of Captain Jerry Yellin, by Harrison Smith, referencing the book The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II- December 21, 2017
  8. ^ Military Times article Archived 2018-01-04 at the Wayback Machine on death of Captain Jerry Yellin, by Charlsy Panzino, referencing the book The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II- January 3, 2018
  9. ^ White House press release announcing presidential pardon of Lorance – November 15, 2019
  10. ^ Article – Will there be a Leavenworth Season 2 (citing Travesty of justice as factor re-igniting Lorance case in the national discussion) November 19, 2019 ]
  11. ^ Washington Times OPED – Trump Must Free and Exonerate Lt. Clint Lorance, by Don Brown, November 7, 2019
  12. ^ Fox News Video -- Don Brown, Clint Lorance appear on Hannity, November 27, 2019
  13. ^ Newsweek Article, U.S. ARMY OFFICER LINKED TO WAR CRIMES AND LATER PARDONED SAYS HE HAD HOPE ONCE TRUMP BECAME PRESIDENT, November 28, 2019, citing Brown-Lorance interview on Hannity
  14. ^ "Apr2014". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Law - Campbell University". Law. Archived from the original on 14 October 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  16. ^ Volume 40, United States Naval Law Review, showing article by LT Donald Brown, JAGC, USNR, beginning at p. 157
  17. ^ a b "N.C. author to sign books Saturday, brown, book, military - Archive - ENCToday". 10 July 2011. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  18. ^ "Brown & Associates, Pllc in Charlotte, NC". Brown & Associates, PLLC. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  19. ^ Don Brown: President Trump, please free Army Lt. Clint Lorance, unjustly convicted of murder in Afghanistan, Fox News, May 7, 2019
  20. ^ Don Brown: It's time for Trump to clean out corruption in the military justice system, Fox News, June 14, 2019
  21. ^ Don Brown: Prosecuting American warriors for killing the enemy undermines 'America first', Fox News, July 1, 2019
  22. ^ Don Brown: Not guilty verdict for Navy SEAL Gallagher is welcome news – He shouldn't have been prosecuted, Fox News, July 3, 2019
  23. ^ Don Brown: Eddie Gallagher is cleared, but two other officers face bogus politically-driven murder charges Fox News, July 8, 2019
  24. ^ Don Brown: Policy banning military from carrying guns on US bases should end Fox News, July 27, 2019
  25. ^ "Jamie Lorance and Don Brown call on President Trump to release Clint Lorance from his 19-year prison sentence". Fox News.
  26. ^ "Former Navy JAG Officer calls Eddie Gallagher's war crimes trial a 'Travesty of Justice'". Fox News.
  27. ^ "Member of Lorance Legal Team: We Need President Trump to Take Action". Fox News.
  28. ^ "Barton College Hackney Library Guest Lecturers 2007". Archived from the original on 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  29. ^ "Indonesia intrigue, Tokyo high-tech high jinx - The Japan Times". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  30. ^ "Author donates autographed books to Reuben James Sailors: Hookele – Pearl Harbor – Hickam News". www.hookelenews.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  31. ^ "Charlotte author signs books for Navy crew". 21 July 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  32. ^ "Family Fiction Magazine -- Heroism and Heartache; Three Authors Who Write Military Fiction by Rel Mollet -- November, December 2011 (p. 26 of 66)". Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  33. ^ "HarperCollins US". www.harpercollins.com. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  34. ^ "World Magazine -- Debt and Destruction:Books:Insights into America's Rise Illuminate the Causes of her Unraveling, by Marvin Olasky -- November 30, 2012". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  35. ^ "New Book Foretelling Fictional Military Showdown Gets Grand Haven Residents Talking About Propaganda". Archived from the original on February 10, 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  36. ^ Enter The Buzzsaw (6 May 2016). "Seal Team 6 Helicopter Conspiracy: Death and Cover Up of Bin Laden's Killers". Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 22 December 2017 – via YouTube.
  37. ^ "WHO DOUBLE-CROSSED THE SEALS?". www.alipac.us. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  38. ^ "World War II "Last Fighter Pilot" Capt. Jerry Yellin on War and Survival - Soldier of Fortune Magazine". Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  39. ^ "Regnery Publishing: More Than Just Politics". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  40. ^ Don Brown Interview on WRKF (NPR Affiliate Baton Rouge) with Jim Engster on Captain Jerry Yellin, and WWII, August 1, 2017
  41. ^ "8/1/17 - Hour 1 - The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson - Omny.fm". omny.fm. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  42. ^ Don Brown quoted in 'People Magazine' on Captain Jerry Yellin and the book Last Fighter Pilot, People Magazine online, August 4, 2018
  43. ^ "Brandon Vogt with Don Brown "The Last Fighter Pilot"". audioBoom. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  44. ^ "Mike speaks with Don Brown, author of, "The Last Fighter Pilot." - The Mike Gallagher Show". 17 July 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  45. ^ "Lecture and Book Signing with Don Brown and Jerry Yellin - The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute". www.reaganfoundation.org. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  46. ^ ReaganFoundation (1 August 2017). "A Reagan Forum and Book Signing with Don Brown and Jerry Yellin — 8/1/2017". Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 22 December 2017 – via YouTube.
  47. ^ "WWII Veteran Befriends Japanese Kamikaze Pilot". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  48. ^ "Richard Nixon Foundation". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  49. ^ Richard Nixon Foundation, Youtube Channel, showing appearance of Don Brown & Jerry Yellin discuss the book LAST FIGHTER PILOT, Richard Nixon Presidential Library, August 3, 2017, published April 18, 2018.
  50. ^ "Publishers Weekly National Besteller's List, Dated August 14, 2017 showing hardback nonfiction bestseller's list, at page 11 (showing Last Fighter Pilot at #25)". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  51. ^ "10 World War II Books Every American Should Read," TownHall Magazine and website, June 11, 2018
  52. ^ "Fiction Book Review: The Malacca Conspiracy by Don Brown, Zondervan, $14.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-310-27215-1". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  53. ^ "Fiction Book Review: Code 13: The Navy JAG Series, Book 2 by Don Brown. Zondervan, $15.99 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-310-33807-9". Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  54. ^ Don Brown, "President Trump, please free Army Lt. Clint Lorance, unjustly convicted of murder in Afghanistan", Fox News, May 7, 2019.
  55. ^ Don Brown, "It's time for Trump to clean out corruption in the military justice system", Fox News, June 14, 2019.
  56. ^ Don Brown, "Prosecuting American warriors for killing the enemy undermines 'America first'", Fox News, July 1, 2019.
  57. ^ Don Brown, "Not guilty verdict for Navy SEAL Gallagher is welcome news – He shouldn't have been prosecuted", Fox News, July 3, 2019].
  58. ^ Don Brown, "Eddie Gallagher is cleared, but two other officers face bogus politically-driven murder charges", Fox News, July 8, 2019.
  59. ^ Policy banning military from carrying guns on US bases should end, Fox News, July 27, 2019.
  60. ^ Don Brown, "Trump's pardon of Army Lt. Clint Lorance on wrongful war crime conviction serves justice", Fox News, November 16, 2019.
  61. ^ Don Brown (7 March 2023). "Deadly 'green on blue' attacks by Islamic allied nation troops against Americans must end". Fox News.
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