Noosa veteran William Brown celebrated his 100th birthday on Good Friday, with an honourable presentation by RSL Queensland.
Tewantin Noosa RSL sub branch president Gino Amarrador joined in celebrations at NoosaCare Carramar to congratulate the World War II veteran on his incredible milestone.
“It is with great privilege that the Tewantin Noosa RSL sub branch present William Brown his 100th birthday certificate from RSL Queensland,“ Gino said.
“We are honoured to be a small part of this significant occasion. We recognise and thank him for his service to Australia during World War II.“
William’s son Murray Brown said it was an outstanding achievement for his father, a member of the Cooroy Pomona RSL Sub Branch, to reach 100 years.
“The irony is that he smoked his whole life and lived to be 100. The fact that he doesn’t have lung cancer is quite amazing,“ he said.
“He was a good father. It’s a testament to his good habits that he’s managed to achieve the age of 100.
“Sadly, he has dementia but he’s a very happy person. NoosaCare Carramar say he’s their favourite client.“
William was born in a small town outside of Lismore in NSW on 15 April 1922.
“His dad died quite young so he was brought up by his mother,“ Murray said.
“He enjoyed playing cricket and tennis and eventually joined the Bank of New South Wales.“
After service in the bank branches, William began militia service in 1941 and served one year in the Maitland area with the First Field Regiment.
The main actions during this time involved bushfire fighting and a rush one night to Port Hunter when Japanese submarines were shelling Newcastle.
In 1942 he joined the RAF, and trained in Canada after which he served as a pilot in Britain, Todia, and Burma.
He was engaged in glider towing in England, transport work in India and supply-dropping in Burma, attaining the rank of Warrant Officer.
“He came back from the war and was re-employed in the Bank of New South Wales,“ Murray said.
“He then met my mother Kath and got married in 1956, and together they had four children, two girls and two boys.
“The bank back then would transfer you to different places every four years whether you liked it or not, so the family grew up in various different places like Warwick, Mt Isa, Cairns, Tiaro, and Murgeon.“
After a break of 22 years, Mr Brown took up flying again while at Cairns and gained a private pilot’s licence which he used to take stout-hearted members of the staff on trips to such pIaces as Cooktown, Laura and Dunk Island.
“He retired from the bank in Murgon onto the Sunshine Coast at 55 years old,“ Murray said.
“He brought the Landsborough Post Office and ran that for a few years before settling in Eumundi.“
Murray said he had a great childhood and an even better dad.
“We enjoyed travelling with the family around Queensland and northern NSW in a caravan as kids.“
