Private Geoffrey W Brown MM

Pte Geoffrey Woollard Brown was a member of the Non-Combatant Corps and served with The Royal Army Medical Corps.

He volunteered for airborne forces in 1943 and qualified as a military parachutist, as a member of the newly formed 225 Parachute Field Ambulance RAMC, on course 85 which ran at RAF Ringway in October 1943. The course instructors’ notes record ‘A good pupil and showing improvement still’.

Pte Brown jumped into Normandy on 6 June 1944 and as soon as he landed he was attending the wounded under fire. He was nominated for a Military Medal for gallantry and devotion to duty.

The citation reads:
'For gallantry and devotion to duty
On 6 Jun Pte Brown was a member of the party under command of Captain Tibbs, RAMC, detailed to collect casualties from Divisional LZ and 5 Para Bde DZ. At first the DZ was subject to LMG fire and later in the day was heavily sniped. The area was under intermittent but accurate fire all day, but in spite of this and the fact that two men of the party were killed and four wounded, Pte Brown was unceasing in his efforts in attending the wounded. By his coolness and carelessness he set an example to the rest of the men, although he himself was under fire for the first time. As the gliders and parachutists had scattered over a wide area the duty entailed a period of 11 hours, during which time Pte Brown helped materially to enable all the casualties to be collected.'

He was recommended for the immediate award of the Military Medal, which was endorsed by those in the chain of command, Lt-Col EIB Harvey, CO 225 Parachute Field Ambulance, Brigadier JHN Poett, Commander 5th Parachute Brigade and Maj-Gen RN Gale, Commander 6th Airborne Div.

The award was announced in the London Gazette on 31 August 1944

Geoffrey Brown died in Somerset, aged 71 years, in 1983