Orders, Decorations & Medals - Australian Groups

Lot 4752    Session 14 (4.30pm Thursday)    Orders, Decorations & Medals - Australian Groups

Estimate $5,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $3,000

TRIO TO WAR CORRESPONDENT: 1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45; Asiatic-Pacific Service Ribbon. B2/323 N.E.Brown. All medals impressed. Extremely fine.

Note: Medals in photo in reverse order as received.

Together with,
1. Accredited War Correspondent embroidered shoulder badge.
2. Official War Photographer metal titles (3), one for belt and two for shoulders.
3. Invitation to Retired Employees of The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd Annual Reunion 1984 named to Mr. Norman E. Brown.
4. Letter dated 23 Sept. 1945 from (General) Douglas MacArthur awarding Norman Brown the Asiatic-Pacific Service Ribbon.
5. General Douglas MacArthur Memorial Medal 1964 in bronze oxidised with silver satin finish.
6. Collins' Australian War Diary 1941, No.945, foolscap size with a variety of photographs, newspaper cuttings, and other items, mostly with identification and written notes, a truly historic compilation from an Australian War Correspondent.
7. Other documents, research and photos including copy of WWII service file.

USA Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon: awarded by General Douglas MacArthur in a letter dated 23 Sept 1945 under the letterhead of 'General Headquarters, United States Army Forces, Pacific', addressed to Mr. Norman E. Brown, Australian Department of Information, C/O Public Relations Office, ADVON, GHQ, AFPAC, APO 500. The letter reads' 'Dear Mr. Brown: It is a real pleasure to me to award you the Asiatic-Pacific Service Ribbon in view of your long and meritorious service in the Pacific Area with the forces of this command. You have added luster to the difficult, dangerous and arduous profession of War Correspondent.' It is signed personally 'Douglas Mac Arthur.

Norman Edson Brown, Press Photographer at John Fairfax & Sons, born 12Jun1912 at Fremantle, WA; applied for accreditation as a War Correspondent (Photographer) on 26Jan1943 at Sydney; Australian Licence No.238 was issued to him as representative of the Department of Information as still photographer, accredited to New Guinea (letter dated 04Feb1943 from Director General of Public Relations to Major Howard, Aust. Public Relations Liaison Officer, G.H.Q., S.W.P. Area); War Correspondent badges and instructions were also issued to him; he was not a member of the Australian Military Forces but was employed by the Department of Information as an accredited war photographer; he served for a considerable period in New Guinea with both the Australian and US Forces; Disch.03Feb1945 as Captain, War Correspondent.

Norman Brown was 31 years of age and working as a press photographer for the Sydney Morning Herald when he was enlisted by the Commonwealth of Australia Department of Information as a still photographer. He was accredited as a War Correspondent and sent to New Guinea where he was embedded with Australian and later American Forces, unarmed except for his camera and often on the front line. Some of the locations he covered include Port Moresby, Yule Island, Milne Bay, Goodenough Island, Kokoda Track, Popondetta, Oro Bay to Sanananda, Lae, Finschhafen, Jevevennang, Satelberg, Wandakai, Nuzen, Sio, Madang, Alexishafen, Karkar Island, Sarang Harbour, Rempi, Kiriwina in Trobian Islands, Hollandia, Aitapoe and many other places.

For seventeen months he was under the direct command of General Douglas MacArthur for photographic assignments with all three branches of the US Armed Forces. On one occasion a Beaufort aircraft in which he was traveling crash landed when its landing gear failed but he survived serious injury. He contracted malaria and was sent home several times for treatment but always returned to the front.

After the war Norman returned to his work as a press photographer and in 1951 moved to Melbourne where he continued his photography career with the Melbourne Herald and Weekly Times newspaper. In 1958 his son, Ian Brown, joined the same organization as a cadet photographer, the first father/son team to work for this newspaper.

As stated above, Norman Edson Brown received a personal letter of thanks from General Douglas MacArthur along with the award of the US Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon. Many of Mr. Brown's wartime photographs are in the Australian War Memorial, a fitting tribute to a true professional.