BROWNELL, Raymond James
| Service Number: | 2058 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 September 1914, Hobart |
| Last Rank: | Group Captain |
| Last Unit: | Unspecified British Units |
| Born: | New Town, Hobart, Tasmania, 17 May 1894 |
| Home Town: | Hobart, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Leslie House College Hobart, Scotch Grammar, Melbourne |
| Occupation: | Accountant, Local Government, Stockbroker |
| Died: | Natural causes, Subiaco, Western Australia, 12 April 1974, aged 79 years |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia Lawn 5 Wall 9 0123 |
| Memorials: | Hobart Roll of Honour, North Hobart Friends' School Honour Roll |
Peacetime
| 12 Sep 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Hobart |
|---|
World War 1 Service
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement AIF WW1, Gunner, 2058, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , Enlistment/Embarkation WW1 | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: |
Embarked
AIF WW1, Gunner, 2058, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Hobart embarkation_ship: HMAT Geelong embarkation_ship_number: A2 public_note: '' |
|
| 25 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Gunner, 2058, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 23 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2058, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , Battle for Pozières | |
| 16 Mar 1917: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2058, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade | |
| 20 Mar 1917: |
Involvement
AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Unspecified British Units, Royal Flying Corps 45 Squadron |
|
| 19 Apr 1917: | Honoured Military Medal, Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 62 Date: 19 April 1917 |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Group Captain | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Dec 1941: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Group Captain, Homeland Defence - Militia and non deployed forces, 1 Training Group / Air Officer Commanding Western Region January 1943 - July 1945 |
Awarded the Military Medal at Pozieres
'At POZIERES, FRANCE on 21/22nd July 1916 Sergeant BROWNELL rendered particularly meritorious service in establishing and maintaining communication between firing line and battery under severe shell fire regardless of personal risk or fatigue. He consistently displayed gallantry in his work'.
Submitted 15 December 2014
Biography
See AWM Link
Raymond James Brownell (1894-1974), air force officer, was born on 17 May 1894 at New Town, Hobart, son of William Percival Brownell, draper, and his wife Julie Ann James, née Scott. His address was given as 'The Grove', Lindisfarne, Tasmania at enlistment.
Raymond was educated at Leslie House School, Hobart, and Scotch College, Melbourne. He was later employed by a firm of public accountants and auditors in Hobart. In 1912 he joined the Australian Field Artillery, Australian Military Forces.
2058 Gunner (later Sergeant, Lieutenant and later Air Commodore) Raymond James Brownell, a Tasmanian, enlisted on 12 September 1914 in 9 Battery, 3 Field Artillery Brigade.
He served at Gallipoli as a Gunner. By the time his unit was committed to the fighting at Pozieres / Mouquet Farm in mid 1916 he was a Sergeant. He was awarded the Military Medal (MM) in July 1916. The recommendation for the MM reads, 'At POZIERES, FRANCE on 21/22nd July 1916 Sergeant BROWNELL rendered particularly meritorious service in establishing and maintaining communication between firing line and battery under severe shell fire regardless of personal risk or fatigue. He consistently displayed gallantry in his work'.
He was discharged on 16 March 1917 on transfer to the Royal Flying Corps (la
Following flight training in England, he returned to the Western Front and then moved with the squadron to Italian in late 1917, where his action saw him awarded the Military Cross. He was credited with shooting down 12 aircraft by the war's end.
Brownell was commissioned in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1921, and rose to the rank of group captain by the beginning of the Second World War. Establishing the Royal Australian Air Force base in Singapore, he returned to Australia in 1941 as an air commodore and was appointed to lead No. 1 Training Group. He was Air Officer Commanding Western Area from January 1943 until July 1945, when he took charge of the recently formed No. 11 Group on Morotai.
He retired from the Air Force in 1947, and assumed a partnership in a stockbroking firm. He died in 1974 at the age of 79
See link to Australian Dictionary of Biography (adb.anu.edu.au)
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