Thomas William Brown GM ( 1926 – 13 February 1945) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

recipient of the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circ ...

, one of the youngest persons to have ever received that award. In October 1942, as a

NAAFI The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs ...

canteen assistant, he was involved in the action between ''

Petard A petard is a small bomb used for blowing up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. It is of French origin and dates back to the 16th century. A typical petard was a conical or rectangular metal device containing of gunpowder, with a s ...

'' and , being one of three men to board the sinking submarine in an effort to retrieve vital documents, and was the only one of the three to survive. These documents greatly assisted

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

codebreakers in cracking the German

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...

code. After this heroic deed, it was revealed that he was underage to be at sea. He returned home to

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

. In 1945 he died from injuries sustained while rescuing his sister Maureen from a house fire in North Shields Ridges Estate whilst on leave from HMS ''

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

''. His family were presented with his medal by

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

in 1945, and later presented it to the NAAFI in 1985.

NAAFI career

At the age of 15, Brown joined the

and was assigned as a Canteen Assistant onboard , a P class destroyer, for service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Unlike other services, the NAAFI only accepted men from the age of 17 onwards, so Brown had to lie about his age to join. On 30 October 1942, ''Petard'' was in the waters off the coast of

Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. They were being sent to relieve , and to investigate radar contact with a submarine along with , , , and

Vickers Wellesley The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of We ...

light bomber A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance. The earliest light bombers were intended to dro ...

s of No. 47 Squadron RAF. After ten hours of depth charge attacks, ''U-559'' came to the surface, it being identified by its distinctive white donkey emblem on its

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

. ''Petard'' fired her 4–inch guns at the submarine, causing such damage that the crew abandoned ship. Petard then launched a boarding party in a seaboat. Lieutenant

Francis Anthony Blair Fasson Lieutenant Francis Anthony Blair Fasson, (17 July 1913 – 30 October 1942), known as Tony Fasson, was a Royal Navy officer. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross "for outstanding bravery and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of d ...

and Able Seaman

Colin Grazier Colin Grazier, GC (7 May 1920 – 30 October 1942) was a sailor in the Royal Navy who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the "outstanding bravery and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of danger" which he displayed on 30 October 1 ...

dived into the sea and swam to the submarine, with Brown following them over. The German crew had opened the boat's

seacock A seacock is a valve on the hull of a boat or a ship, permitting water to flow into the vessel, such as for cooling an engine or for a salt water faucet; or out of the boat, such as for a sink drain or a toilet. Seacocks are often a Kingston val ...

s, and water was pouring into the vessel. The two Navy men made their way into the captain's cabin where Fasson found a set of keys. They unlocked drawers and found two code books: the Short Weather Cipher and Short Signal Book. Brown carried these documents up the iron ladder of the U-boat's conning tower to ''Petards

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

, climbing with one hand while holding the documents in the other. After his third trip down and up the ladder, he called for his shipmates to get out of the boat, but the submarine sank before they could escape. Brown himself was dragged under with the submarine, but managed to fight his way back to the surface and was picked up by the whaler. He was promoted to Senior Canteen Assistant following the incident. Due to the attention arising from his actions in the incident with ''U-559'', his age became known to the authorities. That ended his posting aboard ''Petard'', but he was not discharged from the NAAFI. He returned to his family in North Shields, and later returned to sea on board . In 1945, when he was home on shore leave from ''Belfast'', a fire broke out in the family home at North Shields. Brown died while attempting to rescue his youngest sister Maureen. He was buried with full military honours in Tynemouth Cemetery.

Legacy

For their actions, Fasson and Grazier were posthumously awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

. Brown was awarded the George Medal. His mother Margaret and brother Stanley travelled to London to receive his medal on his behalf after Brown's death in 1945. Prior to being told about the presentation ceremony, his mother hadn't been told that Brown had received a medal for his actions. Unknown to Brown, the documents that he, Fasson, and Grazier retrieved were extremely valuable in breaking the German

code. They allowed British codebreakers to attack the "Triton" key used by the U-boats, which had been invulnerable for nine months. Allied convoys in the Atlantic could be directed away from known U-boat locations.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

wrote that the actions of the crew of ''Petard'' were crucial to the outcome of the war. Brown never knew the contents of those documents; information relating to Enigma was not released till decades after his death. In 1985, his brothers Stan and David presented the NAAFI with Brown's medals, to be displayed at the

Museum of codebreaking in Buckinghamshire. In 1987, a stained glass window was dedicated to his memory in his home town at the Saville Exchange building. The museum has since closed, and Brown's medals are now on display at the NAAFI headquarters in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. They were brought there to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the NAAFI in April 2010, with a ceremony being held to celebrate the return of Brown's medal to the North East. In attendance were five of his siblings, Lillian, Sylvia, Norman, Nancy, and Albert.

NAAFI career

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading