Us Decoration For Ng
p. 46 · Read in the full issue
Resident
IN the fighting in Bougainville in mid -1944, Mr. Wallace Brown (then a sergeant with ANGAU), won the US Bronze Star for valour. The war moved away from those parts and it was five years later (September 11, 1949), before presentation of the decoration could be made.
The presentation was made by Lieutenant L. Hamer, of the. US Army, at Torikina, Bougainville, in *a ceremony that was attended by over 200 natives
from Sisivie and surrounding villages.
They afterwards made merry with a native sing-sing.
The citation which goes with Mr.
Brown’s award reads: “‘Sergeant Wallace Brown, Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit, dis tinguished himself by heroic achievement at Bougainville Island from July 20 to August 3, 1944, while attached to Ameri can Forces. With native scouts on two occasions he led patrols with marked suc cess. He conducted one patrol deep into hostile territory to investigate enemy activity in the village of Sisivie and, moving along trails unknown to the enemy, the patrol took hostile troops completely by surprise and killed 20 of the enemy. Leading a second patrol to observe results of an air strike, Sgt.
Brown discovered an occupied bivouac area, guided his patrol silently into firing position and attacked and destroyed 20 troops.”
Mr. Wallace Brown went first to New Guinea in 1921—and is still there, in Torikina, Bougainville. He is an old boy of The King’s School, Parramatta and Brisbane Grammar School, served in World War I with the AIF overseas, and during his service with the 2nd AIF was Mentioned in Despatches.