Montague Ambrose Brown (1889 - 1975)

Cowra Breakout 1944

Biography

Lieutenant Colonel Montague 'Monty' Ambrose Brown was born on 10th July 1889 in Candelo, New South Wales (Australia). He was the son of James A Brown and Mary unknown. ^[1]

On 26th January 1915, Monty was commissioned in the Australian Imperial Force as a Second Lieutenant. He was posted to the 12th Light Horse Regiment ^[2] and embarked for the Middle East at Sydney on 13th June 1915 aboard HMAT Suevic A29. ^[3] He did not spend a lot of time in the trenches of Gallipoli or, later, the Western Front, but on secondments in administrative and training roles. He transferred to the British Indian Army on 18th October 1917 ^[2] and spent the remainder of the war stationed in Bombay (Mumbai), India. ^[4]

Following the war, Monty was commissioned in the Commonwealth Military Force (Militia) as a cavalry officer, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. ^[4]

Monty married Ada Byrne in 1928 in Cootamundra, New South Wales. ^[5]

He became a dairy farmer near Dapto, on New South Wales' South Coast.

Monty was re-commissioned in the Second World War, on 28th June 1940, with the regimental number of N11. With outstanding organisational and personnel skills, he was posted as commanding officer of the 22nd Garrison Battalion, and commandant of the No.12 Prisoner-of-war Camp at Cowra, New South Wales. ^[6] The camp opened in early 1941, designed in four quadrants each capable of housing 1,000 'inmates'. The first occupants were Italian prisoners-of-war who had been captured in Australian highly-successful campaign in North Africa in the January. As 1942 progressed and then 1943, Japanese POWs captured on Melville and Bathurst Islands in the Northern Territory, and then in Papua, New Guinea and Guadalcanal, increasingly occupied one, and then two, of the quadrants. ^[4]

By 1944, the four quadrants at Cowra were: A Compound – Major Les Meagher, Italians; B Compound – Major Bob Ramsay, Japanese; C Compound – Major Ed Timms, Italians; and D Compound – Major Les Lees; Japanese officers, Koreans and Formosans (Taiwanese). The only problem compound being B – the over-crowded (1,104 in mates) Japanese enlisted men. In August 1944, trouble flared and the Japanese attempted a breakout from B Compound, resulting in the deaths of 231 prisoners and five Australians. ^[4]

Tired and disheartened, Monty retired from the Army, aged 55 years, on 13th March 1945. ^[6]

Aged four days short of turning 86 years, he passed away on 6th July 1975 in Sydney's inner suburbs. ^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #19929/1889; registered at Bega
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Australian War Memorial nominal roll: Lieutenant Montague Ambrose Brown; accessed 16 Jan 2023
3. ↑ Australian War Memorial embarkation roll: Second Lieutenant Montague Ambrose Brown; accessed 16 Jan 2023
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} [McLachlan, Mat. The Cowra Breakout. Hachette Australia, Sydney NSW, 2022. ISBN 978-0-7336-4762-8
5. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #18801/1928
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: N11 Lieutenant Colonel Montague Ambrose Brown; accessed 16 Jan 2023
7. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #17188/1975