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Australia

Born in Mount Gambier on the 16th November, 1906, Thomas was the youngest of nine children, including seven sons of John and Elizabeth Rebecca Brown. The family lived in the south-east limestone coast of South Australia at Glenburnie, Mount Gambier, on the Victorian border.
Tom was just seven when his 19-year-old brother, Roy William enlisted to serve in WWI in August 1914 with the 3rd Light Horse. Roy served in Gallipoli and the Western Front, but was killed in action at El Arish on the 9th January 1917 before then being buried near the Turkish trench position. His remains were later interred in the Kantara War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt in June ’25. Three years after Roy’s death when Tom was 13, his 28-year-old sister, Rose Lilian died on the 21st Aug 1920 and was buried in the Mount Gambier Cemetery. These were distressing times for the family, but John continued to be an active member of the Mount Gambier Council for many years.
Tom worked on the family dairy farm with his brother, Arthur. He was 24 when his 72-year-old father John died on the 4th August 31 with the family receiving a letter of sympathy from the Council which John had so diligently represented. Tragedy again struck the family when Tom’s older married sister, Daisy Beatrice Telford, who had been in ill-health, died in the West Kirby private hospital in February ’37. Within three years, Tom’s 79-year-old mother also died in the Mount Gambier Hospital on the 10th November 1939 and was interred in the Mount Gambier Cemetery with John and their daughters, Rose and Daisy.
Three months later, Tom and Arthur were faced with a challenging fire in one of their oaten haystacks in February, ’40, which fortunately, Arthur saw whilst milking, with Tom raising the alarm. Arthur’s initial impulse was to attempt to beat out the flames, but in doing so, his arms were severely burnt, resulting in treatment at the Mount Gambier hospital. The Glenburnie, Caroline, and Yahl Voluntary Fire Brigade attended, with about 50 men responding to the call and saving the adjoining stack.
Tom’s brother, Arthur had married Elvina Steele. Inevitably, the families were close friends, with Tom and Ross Steele deciding to enlist together on the 4th July 1940 to serve in WWII with Arthur becoming Tom’s next of kin. Ross was the younger of the two at 26 and Tom was 33 years old. They were allocated close numbers, Tom SX7750 and Ross SX7776 in the hope both would be placed in the same battalion. They were - in the 2/48th. Unfortunately, both spent a fortnight at Kapara Convalescent Home in Glenelg, initially designated for the injured soldiers from the Great War. Once recovered, Tom re-joined his battalion at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills.
Tom and his then fiancée, Lorna Blair of Glenelg, announced their engagement before Tom left Australia but unbeknown to the young couple, it was to be a five year long engagement before they were able to marry.
Following pre-embarkation leave, Tom, Ross and their fellow soldiers were headed for the Middle East, arriving on the 23rd March ’41. During those early days, the battalion settled into camps, but besides regular army duties was the need to quickly adapt to the locals and the constant demands of army life. The new soldiers were soon involved in intense conflicts where the reputation of the 2/48th Battalion for being the most highly decorated but decimated battalion was earned. Tom’s and Ross’ early days were spent with the Infantry Trig Battalion but early in June ’42 the food and challenging sanitary conditions contributed to Tom’s ill health with enteritis, an inflammation of his small intestine, resulting in a week’s recuperation before he was able to re-join the 2/48th in October ‘41. This was reported back home that he was ‘seriously ill’.
In an horrific accident, Tom’s brother-in-law, Ross was one of two members of the battalion who were killed and three others were wounded when two unit trucks collided on the 28th May ‘42. Ross and others from the battalion killed in this series of accidents were buried with full military honours in the historic Victoria Memorial Cemetery at El Mina.
Less than two months later, in a further blow to the extended family, Tom was reported missing during the intense battle for Tel El Eisa in July ’42. Many eye witness accounts survive, describing the conditions where German machine guns spread fire across the front of the 2/48th Battalion and the constant call for stretcher bearers. Concentrated anti-tank and artillery fire frequently pinned the men down, in the fearful desert heat. In the evening, patrols were sent out to search for the dead and wounded. John Glenn in Tobruk to Tarakan observed ‘Tel el Eisa was ours, but the price we had been forced to pay had been high. On the tortured, bloody slopes of this sandy ridge fifty-three men had been killed and sixty-nine wounded.’ At that stage definitive numbers of prisoners were unknown. Wally Davis SX8328 who was badly wounded reported that “a party of Germans came over and passed close to me. They seemed to be moving among our wounded.”
The exact date of Tom’s capture was difficult to ascertain but it was at a similar time to Alf Taylor SX8396 who had been captured behind enemy lines on his Bren Gun carrier and handed over to the Italians. Back home, The Advertiser on the 22nd August ‘44 listed Tom as missing and Alf as ‘missing, believed Prisoner of War’. It took almost two months to officially confirm Tom’s fate which was changed to officially being registered as a Prisoner of War. The local Border Watch shared the grim news. ‘Mr. Arthur Brown of Glenburnie has received advice from the Military authorities that his brother, Pte. T. R. (Tommy) Brown, previously reported missing, is now a prisoner of war. Pte Brown was serving with the A.I.F. in Egypt when reported missing in July. '
As a POW Alf Taylor described how he was then taken from the North African campaign, with Allied soldiers being alphabetically divided between two ships. Those in the M-Z range were transported on the Italian Cargo ship, Nino Bixio. However, on the way to Italy, three torpedoes fired from ‘Turbulent’ a Royal Navy submarine, damaged the ship in 1942, killing 336 Allied prisoners of war. Alf was fortunate that his ship remained afloat and as a survivor he was rescued and taken to POW Camp 57 in Italy. This was where Tom was also sent in December. The camp, at Gruppignano near Udine in north-east Italy was for non-officers. Reports post-war described the commander, Colonel Vittorio Calcaterra as “a sadist and a beast”. He oversaw poor food, insanitary conditions and overcrowding with the prisoners, airmen and soldiers of the 6th, 7th, and 9th Divisions, having to cope with pneumonia and kidney disease and improvise with medical requirements.
Letters were notoriously slow in arriving and passed through heavy censoring. However, it was a relief to receive a card from Tom in April that year and shared with locals. ‘Mr. Arthur Brown, of Glenburnie, has recently received cards from his brother, Pte. Tom Brown, who was reported missing from Libya in' July 1942, and is now a prisoner of war at Camp No. 57 in Italy. Pte. Brown states that he is good health.’
The news in February ’43 stated that Tom had been transferred from POW Camp in Italy to Stalag 344 in Germany and instead of his 2/48th number, was given POW 32573. Later, prisoners were to praise the continuous efforts of the Red Cross. In being hastily removed from Italy to Germany, many of the men had to leave their personal belongings behind, but the Red Cross immediately arranged for "captor parcels" which supplied the men with replenishment or some of the personal effects they had to leave behind in Italy owing to their quick transfer. Additionally, special parcels of battle dress and warm underclothing and personal effects were sent to the camp from England. They also regularly sent food parcels which the Germans then counted as part of the men’s rations. Other reports of the food were less flattering, including descriptions of grey-black bread in which bits of wood were often found, tea being a mixture of weeds and herbs and coffee being roasted grain.
In July that year ‘43 Tom was again moved in Germany to Stalag 8B. A further note was received in January ’44 confirming that he had been moved. ‘Pte. T. R. (Tommy) Brown, Glenburnie, who was a prisoner of war in Camp 57, Italy, writes to say that he has been transferred to a camp in Germany. He is fit and well.’ Tom was in Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf in Silesia which was almost a ‘united nations’ mixture of prisoners. The camp was later renumbered Stalag 344. It was surrounded by double-banked barbed-wire fences and sentry boxes on stilts. Sentries armed with machine guns and search lights patrolled, the flood-lit perimeter, made even more secure by Alsatian dogs outside the wire.
The Advertiser described Stalag 344 as holding about 100 South Australian prisoners and 1,700 Australians in total. On a positive note the Red Cross advised that sanitary conditions were good, with showers and washing facilities. In an understatement, the report added that many of the men were shackled from 8:00am to 9:00pm but the manacle allowed them to put their hands in their pockets. The chains were removed for an hour at lunch time in the middle of the day. "This handcuff farce does not seem to worry the chaps much" said one of the prisoners in a letter. Additionally, cigarettes and tobacco from the Red Cross were much appreciated.
With the declaration of peace, news began filtering through early in February ‘45 of POWs being liberated by the Russian advance, including at Stalag 344, one of the biggest camps in Silesia which had contained 1,528 Australians. Arthur received the most gratifying advice in May ’45. ‘Mr. Arthur Brown, of Glenburnie, has been advised that his brother Pte. Tom Brown, who has been a prisoner of war in Germany for the past three years, is now a repatriated prisoner of war and arrived in England.’ He received care before finally heading home to Australia, arriving in Sydney in July.
Tom returned to his family on Tuesday 10th July 1945, just two days prior to a very welcome list appearing in the July ’45 issue of the Chronicle that Tom was ‘Reported Repatriated’. In the same list were others from the 2/48th Battalion including Reginald Absalom SX11667 of Quorn, Clifford Fowler SX8914 from Streaky Bay, Max Reed SX7137 of West Croydon (who was under-aged when he enlisted) and Stephen Rogers SX6693 from Broken Hill. The Border Watch delightedly announced that ‘Private Tom Brown, a repatriated prisoner of war, returned to his home at Glenburnie by Tuesday evening's Adelaide train. Private Brown is on leave until 1st August, on which date he will report for medical examination prior to his discharge. Tom looks fit and well and is delighted to be home amongst the peaceful surroundings.’ Over 1,000 local people lined the railway station in welcome.
The Border Watch attempted to capture the euphoria of the joyous return. The Citizens' Band played "Home, Sweet Home" as Pte. Dixon, his wife and daughter, and Pte. Brown stepped from the train. The crowd swarmed around them, many flung their arms around their necks and kissed them. "The welcome was a wonderful gesture by the people of Mt. Gambier and totally unexpected.
Following their lengthy engagement, Tom and Lorna wasted no further time being apart. They married at the All Souls Church at St. Peters on July 28th in an evening ceremony. There was no reception, they just wanted to be together.
Tom spent additional time in Camp hospital recovering before he marched out for release. It had been a long, challenging war for him, but unlike his oldest brother, Roy, he had returned. Tom was finally discharged in September ’45. Those at home organised a huge welcome for their men who had been Prisoners of War. Pte. Edward Dixon, SX6717, who had enlisted the week before Tom, served with the 2/48th Battalion and also became a POW, returned the week after Tom. These two, plus SX6116 Pte. Archibald N. Buckingham heard speeches from the Mayor and President of the RSL, but their heartfelt response was to share that ‘''Had it not been for the Red Cross and the money you people gave it, we would not have been here tonight.”
The men were invited to attend the RSL monthly meetings, with sage advice being given that "We know, many will be sick, and it is the sympathy and kindness of the population of Australia that will help them recover their health. They will not want to be fussed over; no soldier ever did. I feel the people of Australia will help them to help themselves."
Other celebrations followed. Local, Corporal Jack Hopgood served with the Airforce but became a POW in Batavia (Jakarta) following the fall of Singapore, surviving exceptionally cruel conditions. To celebrate, his father held a dinner at the local Trocadero Café for 70 guests where they could finally share “an evening when all should let themselves go and have a jolly reunion.” He particularly welcomed Tom “who was captured by the Italians in North Africa and was later in a German prison camp. Hopgood Snr expressed how proud he was of the returned boys, sharing that it was up to all to help them back into civil life so that they could enjoy a measure of prosperity to which they are justly entitled. The three ex-POW’s told some of their experiences of being incarcerated. Many, however remained unshared.
Aged 61, Tom died on the 16th October, 68. A plaque to his memory is in the Carinya Gardens at Mount Gambier in Grave number D16-1. Lorna lived for another two decades. Aged 83 she died on November 6th 1989 and was buried in the Cypress Gardens at Mount Gambier, Row D, Plot 16.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133 2/48th Battalion.