Walter Ernest Brown

Walter Ernest Brown’s military career spanned both world wars and included two major gallantry decorations. In October 1917, while serving on the Western Front, he earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal for tending wounded men under heavy fire and taking charge of his section during the fighting around Passchendaele. Less than a year later, on 6 July 1918, his actions north-east of Villers-Bretonneux resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross. More than two decades later he returned to active service, ultimately being reported missing during the fall of Singapore in 1942.

Brown was born on 3 July 1885 at New Norfolk, Tasmania. Before the First World War he worked in commercial employment and later moved to the Sydney area. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915 and initially joined the 11th Reinforcements of the 1st Light Horse Regiment as a private. He embarked from Sydney on 23 October 1915 and joined the regiment in Egypt in January 1916.

Seeking infantry service, Brown obtained a transfer to the 20th Australian Infantry Battalion in July 1916. Before finally joining the battalion in the field, he also served for periods with the 55th Battalion and the 1st and 2nd Australian Field Butcheries. He joined A Company of the 20th Battalion at St Omer on 8 August 1917.

During the fighting around Passchendaele between 5 and 10 October 1917, Brown distinguished himself by attending to wounded soldiers under heavy fire and taking charge of his section after its NCO became a casualty. His conduct resulted in the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was subsequently wounded during fighting in Belgium in November 1917 but returned to his battalion shortly afterwards.

Brown was promoted to Corporal on 7 April 1918. On 6 July 1918, following the Battle of Hamel, he was serving with an advance party of the 20th Battalion near Accroche Wood, north-east of Villers-Bretonneux, when an enemy position was causing difficulty through persistent sniping. Acting on his own initiative, Brown crossed exposed ground toward the post while under machine-gun fire. Reaching the German position with a grenade in hand, he confronted its occupants and compelled the surrender of 13 German soldiers, including an officer, before bringing the prisoners back to the Australian line.

For this action Brown was awarded the Victoria Cross. The award appeared in The London Gazette, Issue 30849, published on 16 August 1918. This publication date is distinct from the action itself, which occurred on 6 July.

Brown continued serving on the Western Front. During operations following the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, he suffered a gunshot wound to the left knee. After hospital treatment he returned to his battalion later that month and was promoted to Sergeant on 13 September 1918. When granted leave to return to Australia with other Victoria Cross recipients for recruiting work, he chose instead to rejoin his unit in France.

After the fighting ended, Brown remained overseas for a period and undertook a course at the Victoria Cinema College in London. He eventually returned to Australia in December 1919 and was discharged from the First AIF on 15 February 1920. His surviving wartime pay book records both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Victoria Cross, as well as his First World War service with the 20th Battalion.

In civilian life Brown lived in Sydney before moving to Leeton, New South Wales, in 1930, where he worked for the New South Wales Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission. He married Maude Dillon on 4 June 1932. His post-war honours also included the King George VI Coronation Medal.

Despite his age and previous war service, Brown enlisted again in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 21 June 1940. He was initially posted as a corporal and was promoted to lance sergeant, but after transferring to the 2/15th Field Regiment he voluntarily reverted to the rank of Gunner. The regiment deployed to Malaya in August 1941, placing Brown in the campaign that followed Japan’s entry into the war.

Brown was in Singapore when the city fell to Japanese forces on 15 February 1942. He was officially posted missing on 16 February and subsequently presumed dead on 28 February 1942. The precise circumstances of his death were never established in an official record, and his body was not recovered. His name is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial at Kranji.

Walter Ernest Brown’s verified service record therefore spans the First and Second World Wars: from the Light Horse and infantry service of the First AIF, through the Passchendaele action that brought him the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the 6 July 1918 action that brought him the Victoria Cross, to his final service as a gunner with the 2/15th Field Regiment in Malaya and Singapore.