Medals of Edward William Brown RNZAF

[vitharr]

Hello everyone
I am Sever from Romania and I was very glad to find out about this forum as I am sure I will find here the information I am looking for. I am a small medal collector being interested mainly in WW2 era medals and I have recently acquired a lot of two medals - The New Zealand War Service Medal and the British War Medal - engraved on the rim with NZ44977 E. W. BROWN. From a quick look on the Internet I found out that the medals belonged to Edward William Brown a serviceman in NZ Air Force during WW2. Sadly, he passed away in 2020 and there was also a Death Notice in a local newspaper.
As I do with almost all my medals I would like to find out more about the man behind the awards and this brings me to this forum. Is there any possibility to find out more about airman Edward William Brown (date of birth, branch of service, campaigns, maybe a photo) ?
Any info will be much appreciated
All the best regards
Sever

[Antonio]

Hi Sever,
There is an entry for him in the Auckland War memorial Cenotaph database but there is not much imformation on him:

Link:  www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/193038

[vitharr]

Thank you Mr. Antonio. That brief note that I found on the internet together with the Death notice announcement which was somewhat vague were the only things I found on him. I was hoping to find out if he is mentioned being related to a specific action. I do not even know his date of birth.
Best regards
Sever

[Dave Homewood]

He was born on 21 March 1925.

[Dave Homewood]

I do not know much about how medals work, but as you do not have any Stars with it (such as Europe Star, Africa Star or Pacific Star), perhaps he did not serve outside of New Zealand?

I cannot find anything on him either, I'm afraid.

[McFly]

Aug 22, 2020 8:48:23 GMT 12 trees said:

Edward William (Ted) Brown 44977 RNZAF and KEV.
Former Dalgety Stock Agent. Died peacefully on August 17 2020 at Possum Bourne Village, Pukekohe. Husband of Peggy (nee Gammon) for 72 years. Brother in law of the late June Blackhall and Betty Cambell. Beloved uncle of their families. Special thanks to all staff that took great care of Ted.
A private burial has been held. Details of a memorial service to be advised when restrictions ease. Communications to Grahams, 54 George St, Tuakau.

NB ‘Grahams’ in Tuakau is the funeral home and may have contact details for Ted’s family for further research? - grahamsfunerals.co.nz/

I note in the Obituary that ‘Ted’ was also a ‘KEV’ which would be the ‘Kings Empire Veterans’ association. - Further info here

Brown’s medals also seem to be listed here

[vitharr]

Thank you very much for the info regarding his date of birth and what KEV meant. The medals in the photo were purchased by me recently. Only these two in the set, no other campaign star unfortunately. So it might have been possible that he served only on the homefront. Being born in 1925 he was also very young so the things add up.
Thank you again for everything
All the best from Romania
Sever

[McFly]

Errol Martyn has provided the following:

'Edward William Brown' NZ44977 enlisted on 7 Mar 1944 as an AC2 and ACH (GD), which was pretty late in the war enlisting.

[Dave Homewood]

Not that late though, the war still had 18 months to go till the end.

[errolmartyn]

Sept 13, 2024 12:39:49 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Not that late though, the war still had 18 months to go till the end.

If you were a hangar sweeper then the end seemed a long way away indeed. But if you were an aircrew trainee then you were almost too late to see any action, especially with the RAF.

Errol

[vitharr]

What means AC2 and ACH (GD)?

[davidd]

Classification as airman, and trade. An ACH (GD) meant Aircraft Hand, General Duties, which was not really a trade at all, but it covered a multitudue of possibilities. Just about every unit in WW2 would be assigned a number of ACH GDs who could be ordered to do pretty well anything that their superiors required to be done, and be quick about it too. And the "classification" was the very lowest you could be in the British Commonwealth Air Forces (think of "Sad Sack" in the US Army). Above AC2 was AC1 (Airman, 1st Class) and LAC (Leading Aircraftman), the latter an airman of some experience.

[Dave Homewood]

I think of the ACH (GD) as unskilled labour. They were men who had not had formal training in any particular Air Force trade, but they had enough experience and knowledge from their civilian life to be able to perform tasks that needed doing, which did not need to tie up the more experienced tradesmen. They as important in keeping the RNZAF running as everyone else, and many of them spent time performing one role for the whole war, and became very proficient in that position because they picked up all the necessary skills from the trained section members; while others may have moved around from section to section and been jack-of-all-trades.

[Dave Homewood]

Sept 15, 2024 9:44:12 GMT 12 davidd said:

And the "classification" was the very lowest you could be in the British Commonwealth Air Forces (think of "Sad Sack" in the US Army). Above AC2 was AC1 (Airman, 1st Class) and LAC (Leading Aircraftman), the latter an airman of some experience.

Am I right in thinking AC2 was untrained and was doing OJT (on-the-job-training) in their section, they were then reclassified AC1 after completing their first formal trade course, and then LAC at the completion of their senior trade course?