W.L. Brown

Walter Leslie Brown was born on August 13th, 1910. His parents, George and Florence Brown lived in Peterborough, Ontario, but shortly after the birth of Walter, the family moved to Orillia. Upon completion of high school in Orillia, he decided to continue onto post secondary education pursuing the study of theology at Huron College in London, Ontario. Chaplain Brown was serving at All Saints Church in Windsor when the Second World War began. 

Padre Brown enlisted for service in 1941, at the age of thirty. He was first assigned as the Chaplain to the Grey and Simcoe Foresters. He arrived overseas in June of 1943. The Padre was then transferred to the Sherbrooke Fusiliers where he took on the role of regimental Chaplain in May of 1944. On June 6th,1944, D-Day, Padre Brown was only equipped with his communion kit when he landed on Juno Beach in Normandy, France. Padre Brown sought to meet up with the rest of the Sherbrookes that had moved inland of the beach. On the night of June 6, 1944, Brown set out to visit a wounded officer at a field hospital and the troops of the regiment. He and Lieutenant W.F. Grainger were driven in a jeep by Lance Corporal J.H. Greenwood. On their way, the group took a wrong turn resulting in a face to face encounter with a 12th SS Panzer Division patrol. Greenwood was shot and killed, Grainger wounded and left for dead. And Brown was taken prisoner by the patrol. It was later found out that Brown had not been treated properly as a Prisoner Of War as the rules of engagement stipulate. Instead, he was murdered by a member or members of the 12th SS. His body was not discovered until over a month later on July 21, 1944, being located in a roadside ditch. Brown was found with only his communion kit and eight fatal stab wounds to the chest. 

Padre Walter Leslie Brown is buried at Bény-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France.