Townsend wasn't above pulling strings for his friends...

[Jan Lundquist]

Some very interesting items have turned up in my trawl through the Zanesville newspaper files.

Future USN Commander Jack Erven met Townsend Brown while working as a lifeguard at the Hawethornce club pool. He later credited Townsend with influencing him to choose the Navy over the Army when he went to enlist during WWII. But, even better, with Townsend vouching for him, he went straight to work in radio intelligence, skipping over boot camp and all the rest of that onerous new recruit stuff.

Snipped from Erven's account:

[natecull]

"Townsend Brown influenced me to choose the navy," he said. "I don't know what or how (Brown) did it, but I never went to boot camp and went straight to active duty in communications. I worked in RI, Radio Intelligence, and there were fast promotions and good jobs."

Very cool find!

Nate