According to the book, Miracle at Midway, Brassfield was a high school teacher in Missouri. During World War II, Brassfield was an Ace fighter pilot in the Pacific flying an F4F Wildcat.
During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Brassfield received the Navy Cross, the Navy's second highest award behind the Medal of Honor, for downing two enemy aircraft. He received a second Navy Cross for downing four dive bombers during the Battle of Midway. He was attached to USS Yorktown (CV-10). These engagements are documented in the book The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway By John B. Lundstrom. He retired from the Navy at the rank of Captain in July 1969.
Arthur Brassfield died January 21, 1976 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with his wife Loraine C. (Glaze).
How does this connect with my normal subject matter? Thanks to the relationship calculator at brasfield.net we can easily see that Arthur was the 6th cousin of Floyd Gipson Brassfield. They are connected by Thomas Brasfield who was born in 1656 in Beaulieu, Hampshire, England. It's pretty amazing that a distant connection like that can be made via the Internet.
References:
Click this link to read the citations for both of his Navy Cross awards: Navy Cross - Arthur James Brassfield
This link has a photo from the national archives of Brassfield inspecting an aircraft: US Navy Photo #: 80-G-64709
US Navy Photo #: 80-G-61533, Art Brassfield's plane was on the right
Find a Grave, Buried at Arlington National Cemetery
