Sergeant John W Brown

John Wray Brown was the son of Tom and May Brown, of Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. He enlisted in the Royal Artillery and volunteered for airborne forces.

Sergeant Brown successfully completed parachute training at RAF Ringway, and also Glider Pilot training and was posted to F Squadron, 2nd Wing, The Glider Pilot Regiment, and took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

Sgt Brown was separated from a group on the way down to the river Rhine on the evening of the withdrawal, but it is thought that he attempted a crossing and drowned, as his body was found near a brick factory on the south bank of the river, opposite Renkum, on 9 September 1945, and was buried in Heteren General Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherlands. (Glider Pilots At Arnhem, pg 280, and Roll of Honour 5th Revised Edition 2011).

Sgt Brown died on 25 September 1944, aged 23.

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