Russell Willis Browning was born in 1906 in Illinois and resided on Sepulveda Boulevard in Torrance in 1940. He was the Third Assistant Engineer on the SS Azalea City which was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Maryland by U-432 on February 21, 1942. This was a merchant ship owned by the Waterman Steamship Company, Mobile, Alabama, which acted as an agent of the War Shipping Administration. This unarmed vessel left Trinidad for Philadelphia with a cargo of 7806 tons of linseed when it was attacked and sunk with all hands lost (38 dead – no survivors). 

On March 23, 1942 the U.S. Maritime Commission sent the following message to the steamship company regarding the Azalea City: “We regret to advise receipt of information through navy channels that the vessel is overdue and is presumed a total loss as a result of war activities.” The commission directed the company to notify next of kin of those aboard. Browning was not married but his brother Walter resided in Inglewood, California.

In September 1942 the Navy released a casualty list of American merchant mariners who were either dead or missing as a result of enemy actions in the war at sea.  Russell Browning was listed as missing. German naval records after the war filled in the details of the attack on the Azalea City.