Pte. A. BROWN

FIRST NAMES: Arthur

NUMBER: 4389347

RANK: Private

UNIT: D Company, 4th Green Howards

DOB:1917

MARITAL STATUS: Single

STATUS: Killed in Action

DATE OF DEATH: 6th June 1940

WHERE BURIED: Dunkirk Memorial

MEDALS: 1939-45 Star, Victory Medal, Defence Medal


Arthur Brown was born in 1917 and was the foster son of Ernest and Doris Russell of 6 Standard Terrace Northallerton. Arthur joined the the territorials in 1937 and when war broke out he was serving with the 4th Battalion Green Howards. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was mobilised and sent to France. In the desperate fighting of 1940 when the German armies swept westward the Green Howards were forced back to the ancient city of Ypres in Belgium. Ypres, an evocative name from the Great War, was once again the centre point for close quarter fighting. In the 1914-18 War, Ypres never fell into German hands once it had been liberated in October 1914. It was different this time. The city fell in days. Arthur died defending this city.

Arthur Brown is remembered on the Dunkirk Memorial Colunmn 49. He is also remembered on the Northallerton War Memorial and in the Book of Remembrance at the Green Howard's Museum Richmond. Arthur was killed aged 23 years.