Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John (Jack) Gall BROWN AIF Service No: 704A
9th Btn - 11th and 7th Machine Gun Company

Born in Aberdeen Scotland in April 1899.
Emigrated to Australia with his parents in November 1913 where they settled in Brisbane.

Jack enlisted into the AIF in April 1917 just 5 days after he turned 18, however on his Enlistment papers he shows his age as 20 years and 10 months.

He completed his Machine Gun training at Seymour Victoria during June / Aug 1917 and spent time in Ascot Vale and Bendigo Camps.
He departed from Melbourne on 21st November 1917 on HMAT Nestor A71,
arriving at Suez Egypt in December 1917.
He was then shipped on HMS Abbassiah to Sutton Veny in England via Alexandria Egypt and Taranto Italy, finally arriving at Sutton Veny AIF training camp on 24th January 1918.

He was then sent via Folkstone to Etaples on the coast of Northern France on the 15th April 1918 where the Commonwealth had large reinforcement camps situated.

On the 1st May 1918 he was sent to the ‘front’ to join his Battalion at the village of Borre France,
the battle moved towards Meteren France on the 5th May 1918, and fighting continued for several weeks until Jack was wounded in a railway yard battle in the village of Strazeele France on the 20th June 1918.

Jack was severely wounded in the chest / left shoulder and was sent back to England to Southwark Military Hospital where he was nursed until September 1918 when he was discharged from hospital, he carried that shrapnel in his shoulder for the rest of his life.

He visited his Aunt Bella in Scotland during his convalescent, and was shipped back to Australia on the 18th November 1918 on HMAT Marathon A74, finally arriving in Dec 1918 and discharged from the AIF on 19th January 1919.

Jack returned to Brisbane and started his civilian career as a carpenter, one of his highlights was his role in building the St Marys Cathedral in Warwick during the early 1920s.

He was married in 1923 and had a family of 2 daughters and a son, named his home “Strazeele” and lived a fruitful life in Brisbane until he passed in October 1978.

Jack is interned at Mt Thompson Memorial Gardens Brisbane with his wife Ida and also has a Dept of Veterans Affairs memorial at Aspley Pinnaroo Garden of Rememberance. Wall 33 Row K-28