Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Branch: U.S. Army (Air Forces)
Unit: 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group
Military Honors: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: October 29, 1944 - KIA near the Province of Udine, Italy 
Age: 23
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Second Lieutenant Fred Brewer Jr. was one of more than 900 racially segregated black pilots trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield, Alabama, during World War II (1939-1945). More than 400 of the famed “Tuskegee Airmen” would serve in combat. Their performance in battle earned them 150 Distinguished Flying Cross medals and was a key factor in the eventual integration of the United States armed forces.

Brewer, from Charlotte, North Carolina, was born on August 4, 1921. His father, Fred Sr., was a hotel bellman. The family—including his mother, Janie (Dunlap) Brewer and his younger sister Gladys lived in the Brooklyn section of Charlotte.

Fred Jr. graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Shaw was affiliated with the Baptist Church and was the first college for blacks in the segregation-era South.

The Tuskegee Airmen gained notoriety not only for their courage in combat but also because of the distinctive “Red Tail” P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft they flew on patrol and strafing missions, and as bomber escorts over North Africa and Italy.

In 1944, 2LT Brewer was assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, serving in WWII’s European Theater. He named his P-51 Mustang “Travelin’ Light”—possibly after the 1942 Billie Holiday song of the same name—and he had a skinny rabbit painted on its nose.

In October of 1944, 2LT Fred L. Brewer was lost over the Italian province of Udine, which borders Austria to the north, Slovenia to the east, and the Adriatic Sea to the south. He was 23 years old.

According to a press release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA):

On Oct. 19, Brewer departed Ramitelli Air Base, Italy, as one of 57 fighters assigned to escort bombers to their targets in Regensburg, Germany. While enroute to their targets, the bomber group encountered heavy cloud cover over the Udine area of Italy, which forced several escort fighters to return early. According to another pilot witness, Brewer had attempted a steep climb to get above the cloud cover, which caused the engine of his P-51C Mustang, Traveling Light, to stall. It was reported Brewer’s aircraft had rolled over with the canopy jettisoned, but he was not observed ejecting from the plane. Brewer’s remains were not recovered, and he was subsequently declared missing in action.

Nearly 79 years after 2LT Brewer went missing, the DPAA announced that his remains had been found. Researchers discovered that a resident of the Moggio Udinese commune in Italy had used aircraft wreckage from a nearby crash site to create a memorial to fallen Americans who died during World War II.

Researchers analyzed remains that had been recovered by American forces but not identified. The remains had been buried temporarily in a Moggio Udinese civilian cemetery and moved to the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy. With advanced DNA and other forensic analysis, the DPAA was able to positively identify the remains as those of 2LT Brewer.

Second Lieutenant Fred Lorenzo Brewer Jr. is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, along with along with others still missing from WWII. As is the custom, a rosette is placed next to his name to indicate that he has been found.

Sources
Photo from the National Archives Catalog: NAID: 185821176, Fred L. Brewer, Class of 1944, Single Engine Pilots
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: Pilot Accounted for from WWII (Brewer, F.)
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: 2D LT FRED L. BREWER
Washington Post, Sep. 3, 2023: Remains of Tuskegee pilot who vanished in WWII have been identified
The Charlotte News, Apr. 17, 1944: Service Record – Second Lt. Fred L. Brewer Jr.
The Charlotte News, May 10, 1945: Heroes’ Kin Get Medals
War Department Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Washington: Missing Air Crew Report No. 9600
The News & Observer, Sep. 11, 2023: After 79 years, Pentagon identifies remains of a Tuskegee Airman from North Carolina
HonorStates.org: Fred Lorenzo Brewer Jr.
Burial Site: Find a Grave