Walter James Brown was born in February 1918 in Kidderminster.

Walter’s early life would have been tough; his dad John Brown was a farm labourer who couldn’t always find work, so there wasn’t regular money coming into the house at number 1, Court Back, Charles Street in Kidderminster. Walter’s mum Beatrice must have worked miracles to make ends meet, because by 1921 she had three young boys and a baby girl to clothe and feed.

Walter was the youngest of the three boys – his brothers being John and Frederick. His little sister was named Doris. In 1923, Walter gained another little sister when Elsie was born.

As a youngster, Walter attended Coventry Street School and on completing his time there he found work as a tin-plate shearer at Messrs. Baldwin’s Stour Vale Works, situated in the Clensmore district of Kidderminster.

By this time the family had moved to number 88 Upton Road, just off Sion Hill in the town’s Broadwaters district.

Things would have been a little easier for mum Beatrice at this time; her oldest son John had left home, Walter was working in the ironworks and Frederick, Doris and Elsie had all found work in one of the town’s carpet manufactories, so at last, some money was coming into the household.

In 1940, Walter married his sweetheart Nellie Vaux, the seventh child and second daughter of a bricklayer’s labourer from Kidderminster’s Horsefair. The happy couple moved into their own accommodation at number 60 Broad Street, just a few doors up from Nellie’s old family home at number 10.

Walter and Nellie went on to have two children; both lads - Billy and Robert.

At this time, much of the steel plate produced by Walter and his mates in Baldwins' iron works was being made on-order for the Ministry of Supply to assist with the war effort. This meant that Walter was in a ‘reserved occupation’ and was therefore exempt from call-up.

However, in 1940 Walter made the conscious decision to leave Baldwins and join the Royal Navy.

This bears testament to Walter's spirit; he didn't have to risk his life to help support the struggle against Naziism - he could have quite simply stayed at home and seen the war out in the iron works, but he chose to serve King and Country instead. Truly the actions of a courageous and valiant young man. 

In the spring of 1940, Walter would most likely have begun his initial training at HMS Royal Arthur in Skegness and after around six weeks there, would have transferred to one of the Royal Navy’s other establishments for additional training before being assigned to a ship.

The ‘JX’ element of his allotted service number (C/JX 318274) indicates that rather than taking the option to sign-up for the war’s duration, Walter actually signed-up on a “long-service engagement” basis, suggesting that he may well have regarded life in the navy as a career move rather than just his patriotic duty. The ‘C’ element of his service number confirms his “Port Division” as Chatham.

The ship that Walter was assigned to on completion of his training, was HMS Boadicea, a ‘B’- class destroyer that had been ordered in 1929 from Hawthorn Leslie of Hebburn-on-Tyne, under the 1928 Naval Programme. She’d been laid-down on the 11th of July 1929 and launched on the 23rd of September 1930.

The ship's complement was 134 officers and ratings in peacetime, with a contingency to increase 142 during wartime.

HMS Boadicea then spent considerable time in Spanish waters; firstly helping evacuate civilians from Spain during the opening weeks of the Spanish Civil War, and subsequently enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of that conflict.

She’d served for several months as an anti-aircraft guard for the aircraft carriers of the Mediterranean Fleet and then had been involved in the escorting of transport ships carrying the British Expeditionary Force to France.

It was around this time that Walter joined HMS Boadicea.

Tragically, it wasn’t too long after his joining her that she was sent to Le Havre on the 9th of June 1940 to assist in the evacuation of the remnants of that same brave expeditionary force that she’d help land months earlier - in particular, the 51st Highland Division which had been abandoned following the Dunkirk evacuation.

On the 10th of June, while standing-to off the French coast between Fécamp and Dieppe, Walter’s ship was attacked by nine German ‘Stuka’ dive-bombers. The first attack missed its target but the second wave scored three hits. The first bomb penetrated HMS Boadicea’s deck and entered the engine room but didn’t explode, the second bomb penetrated her aft engine room and exploded, killing all the engine room crew except one. The third bomb entered the aft boiler room and passed through the ship’s bottom without exploding. A third wave of ‘Stukas’ failed to inflict any further damage.

This was a real baptism of fire for Walter; the order was given to abandon ship, leaving just a skeleton crew aboard HMS Boadicea to try and seal the leak caused by the bomb which had penetrated her hull.

In an article written in Kidderminster’s local newspaper in 1944, it’s confirmed that Walter was eventually “rescued after several hours in the water.”

Meanwhile, his ship HMS Boadicea, was towed to Dover and then on to Portsmouth for repair.

On completion of his ship’s repair and re-fit, Walter would have been aboard her when she participated in the search for the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, both of which had broken-out into the North Atlantic (the term “broken-out” refers to the German battleship’s escape from the French port of Brest, sailing through the English Channel under the cover of darkness and successfully reaching German waters. At the time, this manoeuvre was considered to be a significant tactical victory for the German navy, although in reality, it had little impact due to the damage sustained by the ships during the breakout).

Following the excitement of chasing the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, in the spring of March 1941, Walter’s ship was transferred to the 4th Escort Group at Greenock for convoy escort duties, remaining with them until February 1942 when she was assigned to the Western Approaches Command until July.

Walter was on-board HMS Boadicea when she undertook hazardous convoy-escort duties in the North Atlantic, these were:

Convoy PQ 15:- This was an Arctic convoy that sailed from Reykjavík, Iceland, on the 26th of April 1942. The convoy consisted of 25 merchant ships and was accompanied by one auxiliary oil-tanker and two ice-breakers. The convoy sailed with a destroyer escort which included Walter’s HMS Boadicea.

A German reconnaissance aircraft sighted the convoy on the 28th of April while it was 290 miles south-west of Bear Island. No attack developed for two days as the German forces were busy with another convoy (Convoy QP 11) which had left Murmansk in the Soviet Union on the 28th of April.

On the 1st of May the Luftwaffe made its first attack on Walter’s convoy, with six Junkers Ju 88s. The German bombers failed to inflict any damage and lost one of their number. On the 3rd of May at 01:30 hours, six Heinkel bombers of Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 26, the Luftwaffe's new torpedo bomber force, made the first German torpedo bomber attack of the war. Three ships were hit, two were sunk and one was damaged, later to be sunk by the German submarine U-251. Two aircraft were shot down and a third damaged, which subsequently crashed. A further attack by German high-level bombers at dusk was unsuccessful.

Deteriorating weather on the 4th of May prevented further attacks, an Arctic gale quickly turning into a snowstorm. Convoy PQ15 arrived at the Kola Inlet (also known as the Murmansk Fjord) at 21:00 hours on the 5th of May with no further losses – and Walter must have been mightily glad to step ashore after such a terrifying ordeal.

Convoy QP12:– This convoy was a lot quieter for Walter and his shipmates; it was a complete success with all 16 vessels under escort safely arriving in Reykjavic on May the 29th 1942 – having set off from Kola Inlet eight days earlier. The convoy wasn’t attacked at all due to the Germans being preoccupied with another convoy (PQ16) however, one of the convoy’s Hurricane pilots died having shot down a shadowing German reconnaissance aircraft on the 25th of May.

HMS Boadicea underwent another refit between August and October 1942; the work was completed in Liverpool, no doubt allowing Walter to get home and see his wife Nellie and his one-year-old son Billy (his second son Robert, was born in 1943).

In November of that year, re-fit complete, Walter was off to Gibraltar as part of the preparations for Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. She escorted British ships to Oran during the invasion and on the 8th of November was struck by a shell from a French L'Adroit-class destroyer in her forward shell-room, with some flooding of the compartment but no serious damage being incurred.

Three days later, whilst on her way to Gibraltar for repair to her damaged forward shell-room, Walter’s ship was escorting a troopship (the one-time ocean liner, RMS Viceroy of India, which was also heading for ‘Gib’) when the troopship was torpedoed. An attempt by Walter’s HMS Boadicea to cast a line and tow the crippled troopship failed, but Walter and his shipmates did manage to rescue 449 passengers and crew from the Viceroy and return them safely to Gibraltar.

On the 14th of November Walter was on his way back to Blighty, and on the 19th of the month HMS Boadicea resumed Atlantic convoy defence duties following her arrival at Greenock. The ship was then assigned to the 20th Escort Group where she escorted Convoys JW 51A, JW 53 and RA 53 to and from Russia.

The heroism of the matelots completing the Murmansk runs cannot be over-stated. The convoys were horrendous. Conditions were at best, awful. Both summer and winter routes ran close to German bases in Norway from which U-boats, aircraft and surface ships operated – and the Germans were desperate to stop the convoys at any cost.

In the long winter months there was terrible weather and intense cold, and in summer, continual daylight. It was widely considered at the start of each convoy, that no ships could possibly get through.

The men that endured all of the hazards of the Russian Convoys, truly were, the bravest of the brave, Walter included… 

Convoy JW51A:– This was the first of the ‘JW/RA’ convoy series, replacing the previous ‘PQ/QP’ series which had been suspended during the summer and autumn of 1942. The ‘JW’ series sailed from Loch Ewe in Scotland, rather than Iceland and sailed with a substantial destroyer escort to guard against surface attacks (as had proven effective previously).

The convoy consisted of 16 merchant ships, which departed from Loch Ewe on the 15th of December 1942. The convoy wasn’t spotted either by German reconnaissance aircraft or by any of the patrolling U-boats and Walter and his crewmates, and the merchantmen under their care, managed to cross the Norwegian and Barents Seas without incident.

On the 25th of December the convoy arrived safely at Kola Inlet (even though five ships were sunk in the inlet by mines and from attacks by the Luftwaffe, the convoy was generally regarded as a success).

Convoy JW53:- This convoy left Loch Ewe on the 15th of February 1943, it consisted of 28 merchant vessels and 49 escorts. Notes taken from a post-war talk relating to the convoy, give an accurate impression of what sailors like Walter had to endure on these terribly hazardous convoys:

“…convoy collected, waited in half a gale… …gale developed into a hurricane. HMS Dasher an American welded escort carrier split in rough weather. Deck cargo of oil drums broke adrift. Glad to let them go; with TNT in the hold, a hit in the dark would have lit us up. Successive huge waves over the bow smashed lorries on deck. Strict radio silence made it hard to signal to corvette; as we went up, they went down in a trough…

“Lost air cover off Spitzbergen. Spotter plane came over. Big air attack - three formations of seven Junkers, one for each of the ships… …when the bombs come down, it makes you think. Our guns opened up and fear vanished… …Port Oerlikon jammed; gunner with cut face said, ‘I'm going back to fire.' He lost blood. No doctors or nurses onboard. We stitched each other up - with a tot of rum…

“Ship sunk alongside the quay. TNT unloaded on the wooden quay was bombed with incendiaries by German planes... shoveled snow on TNT. During a later raid, I thought we had not been hit, until a hole in the deck was pointed out next to where I had been standing...

“Five British Empire medals and fourteen King's commendations were awarded for brave conduct. The captain said, 'We all should have got the same.' "

Convoy RA53:- This convoy departed the Kola Inlet on the 1st of March 1943, consisting of 30 merchant freighters and an escort of 36 warships. It appears that Walter’s HMS Boadicea was forced to withdraw from escort duties around ten days into this convoy, having been: “badly damaged by sea ice,” she caught back-up with the convoy a couple of days later however.

On return to Blighty, throughout the remainder of March and the whole of April, HMS Boadicea was under repair in the Clyde shipyard.

Walter’s next port of call was certainly warmer than he’d been used too in previous operations. Upon completion of repairs, HMS Boadicea was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone where she served as a local escort. On the 19th of July, she rescued 220 survivors from the torpedoed ocean liner MV Incomati which was sunk south-west of Accra.

Her duties along the West Africa coastline lasted until August the 19th when she took passage back to the United Kingdom.

Walter’s ship returned to the Home Fleet in September and was briefly assigned to the 8th Escort Group before she was withdrawn to enable her conversion into an escort destroyer in November. This included the addition of Type 271 target-indication radar and the upgrading of existing radar systems. After this upgrade and re-fit was completed in January 1944, Walter’s HMS Boadicea rejoined the 8th Escort Group and once again, he was heading north, escorting Convoys JW 57, RA 58 and RA 59 to Russia - from February through April.

Convoy JW 57:- This convoy sailed in February 1944, reaching the Soviet northern ports at the end of the month. All ships arrived safely. For several days JW 57 was attacked by a German U-boat force; one escort vessel was sunk, and two U-boats were destroyed in counter-measures, during this operation.

Convoy RA58:- This convoy comprised of the 38 empty ships of convoy JW57, it left Kola Inlet on April the 7th and arrived at Loch Ewe on April the 14th without any major incident.

Convoy RA 59:- This convoy consisted of 43 vessels; HMS Boadicea joined the convoy mid-transit. Many of the ships in the convoy had passengers on board (officers and ratings, the passengers in the merchant ships were mostly Russians). The American ship William S Thayer was sunk on April the 30th by a German submarine. 43 crew and passengers were lost, the majority of the 192 survivors being rescued by one of HMS Boadicea’s sister ships, the destroyer HMS Whitehall. Three German U-boats were subsequently sunk by escort torpedo-bombers. The convoy dispersed and arrived at Loch Ewe and Clyde on May the 6th and 7th respectively.

By this time, Walter’s ship had left the convoy - bigger things were afoot for HMS Boadicea…

Walter would have felt the excitement in the air when on May thy 3rd 1944, his ship was detached from Convoy RA59 and redeployed to Plymouth. Here she was attached to Support Force ‘B’ in Escort Group 143, for the defence of build-up convoys in the Western Task Force Area, for the forthcoming (but still Top Secret) Normandy landings – codename Operation Neptune.

HMS Boadicea made her way to Falmouth to join Escort Convoy ECL1 with HM Corvette Bluebell and HM Trawlers Cornelian, Ellesmere and Pearl and then onwards, to France!

Walter would have been amazed at the sheer size of what he was witnessing – he had a grandstand view of D Day itself – the largest seaborne invasion in history and he was very much part of it (albeit he would have been far too busy to take advantage of the vista!)

On June the 6th and 7th 1944, his ship provided escort for 31 landing craft that were carrying tanks which were about to storm the Normandy beaches (these were known as LSTs – short for Landing Ships - Tanks). It was Walter and his crewmate’s duty to ensure that these LSTs reached the beachhead on-time and unmolested from German attack.

The safe arrival of the tanks on the beaches was absolutely vital to the overall success of D Day; Walter truly was at the vanguard of the Allies liberation of Europe…

On June the 7th/8th, HMS Boadicea made her way to Milford Haven to provide escort support for follow-up convoys as more and more men and materiel were transported to Normandy.

Tragedy struck on June the 13th when Walter’s ship was attacked and sunk by German aircraft while escorting a convoy of merchant ships to Normandy.

She was just off Portland Bill when the attack occurred. There are a number of versions relating to what German weapons were dropped by what German aircraft – but all that really matters is that HMS Boadicea was fatally wounded when a bomb or a torpedo found its target, detonating ammunition in her forward magazine and splitting her in half. She sank in minutes…

Only 12 of HMS Boadicea’s crew of around 182 survived her sinking. Tragically, Walter James Brown, the brave young iron worker from Kidderminster, wasn’t amongst that tiny band of survivors. 

Today, HMS Boadicea lies upright on a sandy seabed at a depth of around 175 feet, some sixteen miles southwest of Portland Bill (at 50°25′41″N - 02°45′57″W).

Wreck-divers have reported that she stands around 20 feet above the seabed, lying on a small reef which causes her to slope slightly upwards towards her forward section. There is a large gun on the stern and other anti-aircraft guns can still be identified. Her bow is blown off forward of the engine rooms, but her stern section is upright and reasonably intact.

The wreck site is designated as a “protected place” under the Protection of Military Remains Act of 1986.

On August the 19th 1944, Walter’s home-town newspaper (the Kidderminster Shuttle) reported his death; confirming that:

“After receiving news that her husband A.B. Walter James Brown was reported missing since June 13, Mrs. Nellie Brown, 60 Broad Street, has now received official information of his presumed death on that date. He was serving on the destroyer Boadicea, lost during landing operations in Normandy.

 “He served in convoys to Russia, had been torpedoed and rescued after several hours in the water, and took part in the bombardment of Oran during the North African campaign.

“Much sympathy will be felt for his young wife, his children and his parents.

“A younger brother, L.A.C Frederick Brown, is serving with the R.A.F. in England. Mrs. Nellie Brown has three brothers in the services One is in the R.A.F. another is in the army and the third, Private William Vaux, is a prisoner of war in Germany.”

Like many brave matelots, the sea is Walter’s grave; his body was never recovered.

When he first joined the Royal Navy, Walter's 'Port Division' was registered as Chatham - consequently, it's here that Walter is commemorated. 

COMMEMORATION:

After the First World War, an appropriate way had to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided.

An Admiralty committee recommended that the three manning ports in Great Britain - Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth - should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form, an obelisk, which would serve as a leading mark for shipping.

Subsequently, the Chatham Naval Memorial was unveiled by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) on the 26th of April 1924.

After the Second World War, it was decided that all three naval memorials should be extended to provide space for commemorating those like Walter, who'd been lost at sea during that war, 

The Chatham WW2 Extension was unveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh on the 15th of October 1952.

Walter’s name can be found at panel 75, 1. on the WW2 Extension.

In total, the Chatham Naval Memorial commemorates 8,517 sailors of the First World War and 10,098 of the Second World War.

Back in his home town, Walter is also commemorated on the Kidderminster War Memorial, which is situated to the front of St. Mary and All Saints Church. Below the names of the fallen on this memorial, the following epitaph is inscribed:

          “THESE DIED THE NOBLEST DEATH A MAN MAY DIE ~ FIGHTING FOR GOOD AND RIGHT AND LIBERTY                                                                           ~ AND SUCH A DEATH IS IMMORTALITY”

Rest In Peace Walter James Brown ~ your bravery will never be forgotten ~ your sacrifice will be                                                                                       remembered For Evermore.

Acknowledgements: Walter's story could not have been told were it not for the permission, help and guidance given by Jan Ballinger, a "proud granddaughter."   Very many thanks Jan, you've every right to be proud!

Also, the wonderful team at the Kidderminster Museum of Carpet; most especially Geoff, Jill and Jean. Very many thanks to you all.