Brigadier General Chief Flight Surgeon Dr. Clyde Lemuel Brothers

[mtnman]

BRIGADIER GENERAL

CLYDE LEMUEL BROTHERS

Chief Flight Surgeon

Serial # 19027A

Died December 20,1973

 

Clyde Lemuel Brothers was born in Norfolk, Va., in 1902. He graduated from high school at Richmond, Va., in 1922 and attended William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va., for two years, graduating from the Medical College of Va., with a doctor of medicine degree in 1928.

 

Upon graduation from college, General Brothers was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Air Reserve on May 31, 1928 and was immediately assigned to active duty. He served his internship at Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver Colorado where the US army treated many of the soldiers who suffered from tuberculosis from World War 1 as well as a general army hospital treating General ailments and injuries of US army soldiers. Upon completion of his internship at Fitzsimons General Hospital, Denver, now Dr. Brothers, received his regular commission as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps on Aug. 1, 1929. The following decade he served at various Army hospitals.

 

Lieutenant Brothers matriculated into the Army Medical School during this decade from 1929 to 1939 and graduated with excellence. As he studied the different areas of army medicine, the newfield of aviation medicine intrigued him and therefore was decided his future course of study, first entering the Medical Field Service School and finally be decision which guided his military career from thenceforward, entered the School of Aviation Medicine. Doctor Brothers completed the formal education portion of his career in 1939 and was thus prepared to care for our nation's airman for the rest of his military service with burgeoning success and a brilliant acumen.

 

Doctor Brothers entered his first official post as the base surgeon at the station hospital located at the ground zero of the nascent Air Service Signal Corps and the Air Service back in the first two decades of the century, Ellington Field, Texas, in November 1940. General Brothers was then transferred in the same capacity to March Field, Calif., in February 1942 as World War II got underway for the U.S. with our entry into the war. These positions of leadership prepared him for his first major role within the Air Force structure as the command surgeon of the Fourth Air Force at San Francisco, California, followed in February 1943 with an appointment as the Command Surgeon of the Third Air Force at Tampa, Fla.

 

The upper echelon of Army Air Force leadership had taken deliberate note of Dr. Brothers' excellence in the practice of aviation medicine as well as his natural leadership capabilities and therefore in October 1943, he was named as the Assistant Command Surgeon of the Army Air Force in the China-Burma-India Theater. The following month he was appointed Command Surgeon of the entire 10th Air Force in India in which he served with distinction for the next 6 months in organizing and delivering excellent medical Care to our airmen fighting over the jungles of Southeast Asia.

 

May 1944 saw his commission to a position he would hold until his eventual exit from the CBI as the war died down in the India theater in mid 1945 through the incredible fortitude and efforts of our boys with their allies, beating back the Japanese to their Homeland. Now "Colonel" Brothers, was thus designated in May 1944 Command Surgeon of the Army Air Force in India, China-Burma-India Theater, overseeing the medical care thousands of men in the 14th and 10th Air forces and the Air Commando Groups through some of the most vicious fighting in the china-burma-india theater of war as the Japanese were pushed back out of Burma and China and Southeast Asia as a whole. in June of 1945, with the India theater no longer under the threat of imminent Japanese invasion and China on strong foothold regarding their extraction of Japanese forces from their mainland, Colonel Brothers role as Command Surgeon of the India theater of war CBI, came to an end.

 

Returning to the United States in June 1945, two months later General Brothers became post surgeon of the Army Air Force Regional Convalescent Hospital at San Antonio, Texas, caring for those who gave so much for the purpose of the continuing integrity of our United States, not forseeing the internal threats we face today, their job was done and it was done, by the grace of God, well. In April 1946 he was designated deputy surgeon of the Air Defense Command at Mitchel Field, N.Y., and three months later became command surgeon there.

 

Joining the Military Air Transport Service in July 1948, MATS being the successor of the ATC of World War II, General Brothers was assigned duty as surgeon of the Pacific Division station at Honolulu, Hawaii. In May 1950 he moved to Tokyo, Japan to become Chief Surgeon of the Far East Air Forces.

 

Returning to the United States in September 1952, the general was named Air Surgeon of the Air Training Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., remaining in this position until he retired from active military service on Aug. 31, 1957.

 

His decorations include the Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster and the Air Medal et al. He is rated Chief Flight Surgeon and an American hero who not only saved but affected in a positive and endearing way, the lives of many and the very course of this nation's history.

 

Notice the full bird colonel sweetheart piece that his wife Alma wore during his days of service during World War II and the Army nurse collar insignia General Brothers carried with him after World War II in memory of his wife who became a nurse, that they may share in their mutual endeavors of preserving life.

 

Now about doctor Brothers' World War II Gilt Flight Surgeon Wing spectacular origin and design. Doctor Brothers worked with the upper echelon of US army Air Force leadership and during those days leading up to World War II, he was given a 1920 observers double-wing with the US in the center as a gift from one of those upper leadership comrades-in-arms who was rated a combat observer after World War I pilotry. These wings are hyper rare in that they were only created for less than a year between 1920 and 1921.

 

Then Colonel Brothers, took the wing he was gifted from a dear friend and decided to make this his flight surgeon wing for his journey to the China-Burma-India Theater of War in service of his country and brothers at War. Doctor brothers first had the entire Wing gilted and in doing so, he had a 14 karat gold (tested) pin inserted in the hinge and a gilt (gold according to jeweler who tested pin, but was concerned about testing caduceus because of possible marring of the surface) caduceus was then affixed to the escutcheon which had a gold slurry used by the jeweler to cover the letters US before very professionally, without gaps, attaching and centering perfectly, the caduceus to the contours exactly, of the escutcheon, with a gold rivet permanently fixing the caduceus to the escutcheon. You can see in the shots of the rear, the US which was indicative of the combat observer double wing which replaced the observer single wing approved from 1919 to 1920. The pin itself opens to about a 65 degree angle. The wing is a one-of-a-kind creation for a one-of-a-kind U.S. military aviation hero in caring for the lives of our airmen as they fought a battle against the vicious and murderous people filled with the ideology giving merit and acclaim to such evil.

 

Included is his beautiful garrison cap wing of a reflective, beautiful gilt hue; his Sterling two inch wing which I am sure got a LOT of use in the CBI heat as well as his two inch USAF flight surgeon wing. On the left is his Brigadier General Star and on the right is one of his full bird colonel insignia from his time in the China-Burma-India theater of war during World War II. And finally a tiny cross he wore on his collar signifying the standard by which he made the decisions of leadership and life-saving from a perspective of servant leadership.

 

Please enjoy my collecting family and blessings as always in your historical preservation activities and endeavors!

[mtnman]

Shirt wing

[mtnman]

Garrison cap wing

[mtnman]

Rank insignia

[mtnman]

Rear of Brigadier General and Colonel

[mtnman]

Custom Flight Surgeon Wing from 1919 Combat Observer Wing

[mtnman]

Notice the gold granules utilized in a mixture to cover up the US and give a base for the caduceus

[mtnman]

A shot from the base of the wing shield

[mtnman]

Notice the Sterling mark at the top of the shield rear indicative of the combat observer badge of this make 1920 to 1921

[mtnman]

Full rear shot with the beautiful 14 karat pin

[mtnman]

Very strong, 1920s pin hinge

[mtnman]

Close up of the gold rivet utilized to lock the caduceus in place

[mtnman]

Elegant top entry pin catch

[bschwartz]

Amazing collection and equally amazing history. I love it when sets like these stay together and can represent one man's journey. Thank you for sharing.

[mtnman]

Col. Clyde L Brothers

[tomcatter]

Wow! It's an amazing grouping, telling us an entire life!

[mtnman]

Yes TC! I absolutely agree, this grouping is one of the most treasured of my entire collection because of the man God blessed our air crews with! The stories of the lives that this man changed and brought back from the brink of death in times of infirmity and War's catastrophic damage of body and mind and spirit are FAR BEYOND imagination's most vivid reach. It surprised me that more of our forum brothers did not respond to this man's life symbolized in these wings which chronicled his progress through a career, (along with his wife, an air force nurse with HER nurse's lapel piece he carried with him when they were apart!!), of making sure pilots and their crews were kept in excellent health in one of the most bloody battled, disease filled, difficult, treacherous, uncharted areas on the face of this Earth, the china-burma-india theater. And the FLIGHT SURGEON WING!! created by this paragon of commitment to life's protection, USAAF Flight Surgeon Dr Clyde L Brothers, a wing received from his relative or his colleague who served in the time of the Air Service in 1919, turning one of the rarest wings in the collecting paradigm (1919 "US" affixed observer wing), into one of the most beautiful and glorious wings I have ever held, matched with the intrepid, dangerous, beneficent history of his service, just sets me back in TOTAL AWE.....

[jeff41st]

Thats a great collection. Thanks for sharing and preserving.

[B-17Guy]

Excellent research on an outstanding grouping Mel!
Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

John

[mtnman]

John, I'm so glad that you were able to view this WWII Flight Surgeon's historical grouping whose career spanned the 1930s through World War II, Korea and beyond. I knew that you in particular, would derive a great deal of enjoyment out of such a grouping! Blessings as always in your skyborne journeys and in your most diligent collecting John.

[Wharfmaster]

Most interesting, thanks !

 

 

Wharf