Walter Brown (chaplain)

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Walter Leslie Brown
Born(1910-08-13)August 13, 1910
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
DiedJune 6, 1944(1944-06-06) (aged 33)
near Caen, Normandy, France
Occupation(s)Anglican Minister and later Chaplain in the Canadian Army

The Reverend Walter Leslie Brown (13 August 1910 – 6 June 1944) was a Canadian military chaplain who was attached to the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade during Operation Overlord. He was murdered by Waffen-SS soldiers after he had surrendered. At the time of his capture he had been wearing the uniform of a Canadian army chaplain.

History[edit]

Walter Brown was born in Peterborough, Ontario on 13 August 1910,[1] to English-born parents George Carmichael Brown and Florence May Brown (née Peters), although the family later settled in Orillia, Ontario.[2] He had two brothers.[3]

An alumnus of Huron University College, he was already an ordained and practising minister of the Anglican Church in Canada,[4] before he volunteered for service in the Canadian Army as part of the Canadian Chaplain Service[5] on 1 April 1941 in Toronto, Ontario. He was eventually attached to an armoured regiment (the 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment)) slated to land early on D-Day[6] and he was therefore one of the first Canadian Military Chaplains to land in Normandy on Juno Beach on 6 June 1944.[7] Walter Brown was murdered (by bayonetting),[8] after surrendering to members of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend on 6 June.[9] He was the only allied military chaplain to suffer this fate, although several were killed and wounded in action in World War II.[10][11] The Hitlerjugend Waffen SS were notoriously brutal[12] and murdered several Canadian Prisoners of War in the early stages of the Normandy Campaign.[13]

His body was eventually recovered on 11 July 1944 and he was buried along with other Canadian servicemen in the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in Normandy, France.[14] Walter Brown was awarded the following medals posthumously: the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, the War Medal, the Defence Medal and the France and Germany Star. The medals were passed to his parents.[15]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ontario, Canada Births, 1858-1913
  2. ^ Canada, Veterans Affairs (February 20, 2019). "Walter Leslie Brown - The Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada". www.veterans.gc.ca. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  3. ^ 1921 Census of Canada, Orillia, Simcoe East, Ontario
  4. ^ "Fallen Heroes of Normandy Detail". www.fallenheroesofnormandy.org. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  5. ^ "History of Military Chaplaincy". unitedmilitarychaplains.ca. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  6. ^ "Defence of Carpiquet, 7 June 1944 - TracesOfWar.com". www.tracesofwar.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  7. ^ "Walter Leslie Brown". Juno Beach Centre. April 29, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  8. ^ "Normandy Soldiers - Brown, (Rev.) Walter Leslie". ssns.frontiersd.mb.ca. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  9. ^ Peterson, Michael (June 6, 2014). "Mad Padre: Remembering Two Canadian Chaplains Who Fell On D-Day". Mad Padre. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  10. ^ "Our History". The Anglican Church of Canada. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  11. ^ "Canadian Chaplains". They Gave Their Today. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  12. ^ Sullivan, Michael E (2012). "Combat Motivation and the Roots of Fanaticism: The 12th SS Panzer Division in Normandy". Canadian Military History. 10 (3): 43. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  13. ^ Margolian, Howard (2000). Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802083609. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  14. ^ Brown, Walter Leslie. "Casualty". www.cwgc.org. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  15. ^ "Walter Leslie Brown". Juno Beach Centre. April 29, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
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