Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Thomas William and Mary Ellen Brown, of Townsville, Queensland, Australia; husband of Nora Marie Brown, of Brandon, Queensland.

HIS DUTY FEARLESSLY AND NOBLY DONE EVER REMEMBERED

PRIVATE BROWN'S 
DEATH AT CHANGI
Advice has been received from the Red Cross Society by Mrs. W. J. Brown, of Brandon, formerly of Townsville ,that her husband, QX 1622. Private  Bill Brown, died in hospital at Changi, from malaria and cardiac failure on Sentember 3. He passed away in his sleep. 
Although Private Brown was ill and in weak condition, he was in good spirits and looking forward to the arrival at Changi the next day of Lord  Mountbatten and the release of the men in the camp, preparatory to their return home.
'Brownie,' a cheerful and popular member of the Railway Manager's staff at Townsville, was a man of 14 stone when he left Australia with the Eighth Division. He worked on the now Infamous Burma-Thailand railway from April to December, 1942, when he contracted cholera. In hospital at Changi his weight had fallen to 7 stone 5lbs. Later he had beri beri, and was in hospital for a long period. Then again, three months before the  surrender, he had a second attack of beri berl, and in his weakened state he fell a victim to malaria.  His weight had contracted still further when  he died, but as his many friends at home would expect, 'Brownie,' despite his weakness, retained his sense of humour and his high spirits to the  end. Though he shares Changi war cemetery with many other Australians, his relatives and friends will remember this soldier who did not return  as a cheery soul who, like thousands of others, heard the call of his country and did not falter.