Ed Sullivan during “Jesse & Tom” “The Americans Who Showed the Path to Overcome Racism” Veterans Reading Program to Massachusetts Public School Children. Photo provided by Captain Ed Sullivan
Captain Ed Sullivan, a veteran in the American Legion Post #664, wrote a book title Jesse & Tom: The Americans Who Showed the Path to Overcome Racism that was published in November 2022. Using his book, he has started his American Legion Vets Reading program in which veterans go into the schools and discuss the book with students.
The book is a children’s book (reading age 8-14 years) that shares the story of Ensign Jesse LeRoy Brown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi overcoming society’s racial barriers to become America’s first African-American Naval Pilot. In the naval aviator’s locker room, Brown meets Tom Hudner for the first time and they bond as friends for life. On December 4, 1950, Capt. Tom Hudner crashed his corsair aircraft, risking court martial, to save his shipmate Ensign Brown. Through the dramatic attempts to save Brown’s life, Hudner begins a life odyssey of “devotion” to the legacy of Brown.
Local veteran Tom Reynolds of Lima volunteered to join the program earlier this year.
If you would like the American Legion Vets Reading program to come to your school, you can reach out to Captain Sullivan at captsull@aol.com.
