Donald Forrester Brown

He took three machine guns and kept his men pressing onward.

Donald Forrester Brown was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 23 February 1890. He spent part of his youth in the Oamaru district and attended Waitaki Boys’ High School. Before the First World War transformed his life, Brown worked as a farmer on his own account in the Totara district near Oamaru. He was unmarried when, at the age of twenty-five, he volunteered for overseas military service.

Brown enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 19 October 1915 and received the service number 8/3504. He left New Zealand in January 1916 and reached Egypt in March, where he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Otago Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to Sergeant in May, after the battalion departed for France in April. Within only a few months of leaving civilian life, Brown had moved from farming in New Zealand to the responsibilities of a non-commissioned officer on the Western Front.

The advance quickly became costly. South-east of High Wood, Brown’s company suffered heavy casualties from German machine-gun fire. The attack was being held up when Brown moved forward with a comrade toward the enemy position. Despite the danger, they closed to within about thirty yards of the machine gun, killed four members of its crew and captured the weapon. With the obstacle removed, the company was able to continue its advance.

The progress did not last long before another machine gun brought the troops to a halt. Brown again went forward. He and his companion rushed the second position, killed its crew and captured the gun. The company then came under intense shell fire, but Brown remained composed. His calmness and disregard for the danger around him helped steady the men during a moment when casualties and enemy fire could easily have broken the momentum of the assault.

The actions of 15 September alone demonstrated extraordinary courage, but Brown’s Victoria Cross citation would ultimately include another act of gallantry. On 1 October 1916, during further fighting near Eaucourt l’Abbaye on the Somme, a German machine gun again stopped the advance. This time Brown attacked the position single-handedly. He killed the gun crew and captured the weapon, allowing the attack to continue.

Later that same day, Brown was engaged in firing on the retreating enemy when he was killed in action. He was twenty-six years old. His death came only a little more than two weeks after the action near High Wood that had first established the exceptional courage for which he would be remembered.

Brown was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his conspicuous bravery and determination during the fighting of 15 September and for his subsequent gallantry on 1 October. The award was announced in 1917, making him the first member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to receive the Victoria Cross for service on the Western Front. His father, Robert Brown, received the decoration on his behalf at Oamaru on 30 August 1917.

He was buried in Warlencourt British Cemetery in the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Far from the farmland of North Otago where he had lived before the war, his grave became the final resting place of a New Zealand soldier whose military service had lasted barely a year but whose courage earned the highest decoration for gallantry available to British and Commonwealth forces.

Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery and determination in attack when the company to which he belonged suffered very heavy casualties in officers and men from machine gun fire. At great personal risk this N.C.O. advanced with a comrade and succeeded in reaching a point within thirty yards of the enemy guns. Four of the gun crew were killed and the gun captured. The advance of the company was continued till it was again held up by machine gun fire. Again Sjt. Brown and his comrade with great gallantry rushed the gun and killed the crew. After this second position had been won, the company came under very heavy shell fire, and the utter contempt for danger and coolness under fire of this N.C.O. did much to keep up the spirit of his men. On a subsequent occasion in attack, Sjt Brown showed most conspicuous gallantry. He attacked singlehanded a machine gun which was holding up the attack, killed the gun crew and captured the gun. Later, while sniping the retreating enemy, this very gallant soldier was killed.

Fourth Supplement to The London Gazette of 12 June 1917. 14 June 1917, Numb. 30130, p. 5866