John Brooks Sherman (Class of 1962) collection relating to the Vietnam War (AMS.1U.2016.031)

Biographical / Historical

Captain John Brooks Sherman (Brown, Class of 1962) was born on January 30, 1940 and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He was commissioned in the Marine Corps upon graduation from Brown University in 1962, having won the Reserve Officers Award as a member of the NROTC. A member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Sherman was Captain of the soccer team his Senior year. As a freshman, he represented Brown in sailing as well as soccer. He was also a member of the Brunavian Board and Athletic Co-Chairman for his fraternity and Rushing Chairman.

Capt. Sherman was stationed with Marine Aircraft Group 31 in Beaufort, South Carolina prior to Vietnam. In February 1966 he arrived in Da Nang and joined the Marine All Weather Fighter Squadron 235 attached to Marine Aircraft Group 11 at Da Nang. Prior to his death, 1st Lt. Sherman had been awarded the Air Medal with two gold stars. He flew 44 missions prior to his last flight. On the afternoon of March 25, 1966, he was scheduled for a two-aircraft close-support mission. During his second run, Captain Sherman scored two direct hits on the enemy. As he was recovering from his dive, his aircraft was hit by enemy ground fire, which caused his immediate crash. Survival under these circumstances was not possible, and death was instantaneous. He was believed to be the first Brunonian to lose his life in Vietnam. His death was noted in the Brown Alumni Monthly in April 1966 with details related in a letter written by Lt. Kenneth B. Able, (Brown, Class of 1954) CHC USNA, who served with Sherman in Vietnam. For years, Sherman was considered Killed in Action / Missing in Action because his body was not recovered.

In April and May 1993, a joint team of United States/Socialist Republic of Vietnam investigators interviewed several local informants in Quang Nam‐Da Nang Province who provided information about the crash of a US aircraft. The US team, led by the Joint Task Force Full Accounting, reported that two of the informants recalled an incident in March or April 1966 in which they buried the body of an American pilot near a crash site. Two other witnesses reported they disinterred the remains in 1990, which they turned over to the joint team. In 1998, the identity of John Sherman's remains was confirmed and efforts began to return them to his family for burial in the United States.

Capt. Sherman's parents were Mary and Allen W. Sherman formerly of Darien, Connecticut. Allen Sherman died in 1963 and Mary Sherman moved to Winter Park, Florida, where both parents were buried. Stephen, Capt. Sherman's brother, received Captain Sherman's remains and buried him in their parents' plot. There is little documentation about this process.

In 2014, Mr. Minh Le, a producer for Vietnam Television (VTV) contacted the Vietnam Veteran's Initiative and the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) to aid in his research accounting for Vietnamese war dead. In the course of his own investigation, he obtained additional information about Captain John Sherman's plane crash. During Mr. Minh Le's 2014 documentary investigation he met Nguyen Ý Chí, the Vietnamese soldier who buried Sherman's body. Nguyen Ý Chí revealed that prior to burying the pilot, he had kept two personal items: a survival pocket knife and an aviator's watch as personal mementos, or what is commonly called "war souvenirs." During the course of Mr. Minh Le's interview, Nguyen Ý Chí asked the producer to help return the items to the family of the dead American pilot. The VVA assisted in identifying Sherman, and finding his grave marker, and determined there were no living relatives. The items were ultimately donated to Brown University Archives to be added to the University's Vietnam Veteran's Archive in 2016 during a forum for Brown Alumni who served during the Vietnam War.

John Brooks Sherman is honored on Panel 6E, Row 50 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. and on Brown University's War Memorial, installed on the Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle, near Soldier's Arch. The marker at his gravesite in Winter Park, Florida lists John Sherman with the rank of Captain. He was awarded this promotion posthumously, a practice widely used during the Vietnam War for service members who were killed in action.