Jules Desloge Brown was born in 1923 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His father was a colonel in the cavalry of the Army. Before World War 2 broke out, Brown was in the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] program at Tulane [Annotator's Note: Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana]. In January 1944, he was a junior officer in ROTC and was commissioned because the Navy needed men for the Normandy Invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Brown was sent to subchaser [Annotator's Note: submarine chaser] school in Miami [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida] and then he was assigned to a subchaser and performed several watches. He was assigned to the USS PCE(R)-855, which was being built by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois]. He trained 40 men to run the ship and brought it down to New Orleans where it was commissioned in November 1944. After ship's shakedown [Annotator's Note: a cruise to evaluate the performance of a naval vessel and its crew], Brown and his crew left for overseas duty. They left the United States unescorted and went through the Panama Canal. They stopped in several locations to pick up convoys, which included Hawaii, Kwajalein [Annotator's Note: Kwajalein, Marshall Islands], and Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands]. He then received news that his ship would take part in the Okinawa invasion [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan].

Jules Desloge Brown [Annotator's Note: aboard the USS PCE(R)-855] received news that his ship would take part in the Okinawa invasion [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan] as an escort ship for the first group. His ship was a patrol craft, escort, and rescue. It had a doctor and 10 corpsmen [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps] on board with an operation room and x-ray room. It was armored with a 4-inch gun [Annotator's Note: three-inch, .50 caliber naval gun], 40-inch guns [Annotator's Note: Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon], a couple of 20-inch guns [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm antiaircraft automatic cannon], depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum], and hedgehogs [Annotator's Note: anti-submarine mortar]. Brown's responsibility was to maintain the antisubmarine weapons. He also performed as the education officer, assistant communication officer, voting officer, assistant engineer, ship service officer, and boat officer. He also stood for watches. After three months on Okinawa, his crew left and went to the Philippines to begin preparing for the invasion of Japan. After the atomic bombs were dropped and the war ended [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], Brown and his crew were ordered to Shanghai, China. The stayed there for three weeks and then moved to Hong Kong [Annotator's Note: now Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China]. On the way he experienced three typhoons, and during the last storm, his ship's engine was damaged. He managed to make it to Hong Kong. After six weeks, the Navy ordered them to return to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] with 78 passengers. They stopped in Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] to unload some passengers before heading to Pearl Harbor. The ship was repaired from the typhoon damage and then went to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. Brown was sent home and discharged from the Navy. During his time at Okinawa, his ship patrolled and picked up victims of kamikaze [Annotator's Note: Japanese Special Attack Units, also called shimbu-tai, who flew suicide missions in aircraft] strikes. Brown's ship was never hit by a kamikaze but had some near misses. There was an instance when a destroyer that was next to Brown's ship was hit.

Jules Desloge Brown [Annotator's Note: aboard the USS PCE(R)-855] participated in the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan]. A kamikaze [Annotator's Note: Japanese Special Attack Units, also called shimbu-tai, who flew suicide missions in aircraft] plane came towards the ship and Brown's crew and a destroyer crew shot at it. One of them hit it because there was an explosion and a parachute popped out. The destroyer received the credit. Brown's ship went after a suicide submarine and dropped some depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] but never got a confirmed kill. Part of Brown's job was to supply the ship's store. He found a way to buy 1,900 dollars' worth of candy. He sold out to his crew in two days. Brown's ship always had difficulty getting supplies. His crew would often go three weeks without being replenished. They did always receive adequate amount of fuel. While he was at Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands], he invited his brother who was a colonel in the Army to dinner on his ship. Brown was able to get a movie screen installed in his ship, so the crew could watch movies. At the end of the war, his ship was stationed at Shanghai [Annotator's Note: Shanghai, China]. They could see a Japanese garrison, but they did not do anything. Brown went ashore to buy a kimono [Annotator's Note: article of clothing] for his girlfriend. He met a Jewish man who had been in a concentration camp in Shanghai. Brown befriended the man and ate dinner with him.

Jules Desloge Brown [Annotator's Note: aboard the USS PCE(R)-855] was stationed at Shanghai [Annotator's Note: Shanghai, China] at the end of the war. He was able to explore the town and eat at different restaurants. He also bought a lot of souvenirs. The Chinese wanted brand new United States bills and would pay forty dollars for new bills. Brown and some others began trading old bills for new bills and then sold them to the Chinese. By the time he left China, he had 800 dollars' worth of silver. When Brown's ship first went overseas, they almost ran out of gas getting to their destination. Their average speed was about 14 knots. Brown's training never taught him to be a leader. He had to learn it while overseas. He got along with most of his crew and was very easy going. He only had one incident when his chief would not follow his command and he had to threaten to report him before the chief finally gave in. As part of ship life, he had to do all his duties and then have watch time. Brown often became seasick. When they arrived in Shanghai, all the locals were happy to see the American Navy. A six-year-old Chinese boy came aboard ship, and the crew gave him a sailor suit and shoes. He slept in a bunk and was first in line at the chow line. [Annotator's Note: video goes black from 1:01:49.000 to 1:02:35.000]. When it was time for Brown and his crew to return home, they took the boy to an orphanage and asked a priest to take care of him. Years later they found out that the little boy grew up, became an interior designer, married, and had children. Brown stayed in China for six weeks before he left to return to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. He did not have any duties. About 60 of his crew members were court martialed [Annotator's Note: tried by court-martial, a judicial court for trying military members for breaking military law] because they were caught in the red-light district [Annotator's Note: prostitution area] of Hong Kong [Annotator's Note: now Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China]. All the crew were fined, but not dishonestly discharged. While he was in Miami [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida] Brown took courses in navigation. When Brown returned home, he tried to return to Tulane University [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] engineering program but they school was full. He decided to get a business degree.