Lieutenant James Wairata Brown

Te Ao Hou, September 1966, Page 25

Lieutenant James Wairata Brown Lieutenant Brown of Waimana, Bay of Plenty, was one of six recipients of awards for gallant and distinguished service in Malaysia recently announced by the Governor General, Sir Bernard Fergusson. He received the Military Cross. The citation says that while he was commanding a platoon on operations one of his sentries fired on and wounded an Indonesian Scout. Lieutenant Brown quickly organised a patrol which captured the men who subsequently gave much valuable information. A few weeks later Lieutenant Brown's platoon came under heavy fire. Calling for covering fire, Lieutenant Brown moved forward to within hand grenade range of the enemy and inflicted heavy casualties before returning to supervise the withdrawal of his men. Only two Military Crosses have been awarded in the New Zealand Army in the past nine years. The other recipient was Lieutenant Eru Manuera (Te Ao Hou Issue No. 54). Amongst the other five recipients of awards announced by the Governor Gneeral at the same time were two other Maoris, Private Tahu Ashby of Pakaraka, Bay of Islands, who gained the Military Medal, and Sergeant Winiwini Ahitapi McGee of Whangarei, who was mentioned in despatches. The citation for Private Ashby's Military Medal tells of three engagements in which he figured. On 30 June 1965. Ashby was fired on by two Indonesian infiltrators from close quarters. Firing from the hip with his Bren gun he killed one and wounded the other. On 1 July his platoon was covering a withdrawal when it came under enemy fire. He maintained his position during the attack and enabled the withdrawing troops to move safely. On 28 July when Private Ashby's company was ambushed, he managed to locate one of the enemy machine guns and silence it. This action turned what could have been a successful Indonesian attack into a failure.