Paul Brown was born at Domville, Ontario, near Prescott, on July 8, 1920. He was the son of Albert Glenn Brown (of Domville, Ontario) and Ada Helena (nee Anderson) Brown. Paul had one brother, Russell Charles Brown (of the RCAF, stationed at Moncton, N.B. at the time of Paul’s death); and two sisters: Jean A. (Brown) Knight Barker (a teacher in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario); and Eleanor L. (Brown) Hutchinson (of Sarnia). Paul’s father, Albert, who never resided in Sarnia, died in March 1928, when Paul was only eight years old. His mother, Ada, a Sarnia school teacher, would die in August of 1940 in Sarnia General Hospital, approximately four months before Paul would lose his life. Paul lived in Sarnia about eleven years and attended Johnston Memorial Public School and Sarnia Collegiate. During school days, he used to spend his spare time on farms. He was active in Central United Church Century Young Men’s Sunday school for many years. He would work on a farm only one summer before enlisting in the navy in 1938.
In April 1938, he left high school to join the Royal Canadian Navy in Halifax. Paul was stationed at HMCS Stadacona training barracks. He was guard of honour for our King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their cross-Canada visit and happened to be on the same ship as Their Majesties. Paul received his elementary training on HMCS Venture, a training ship that was similar to the Bluenose. From there, he was posted on the Skeena and then the HMCS Saguenay, where Able Seaman Paul Brown was a pom-pom gunner. In letters received by his relatives, Paul had said that he had been “all over the world.”
The HMCS Saguenay (D 79) was an A-Class Destroyer commissioned for service in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1931. The Saguenay was the first warship ever to be custom built for the Royal Canadian Navy. In the early morning hours of December 1, 1940, the HMCS Saguenay was part of a group escorting a convoy about 300 nautical miles west of Ireland. Travelling at twelve knots and in a zigzagging pattern, she noticed a flare shot up from the dark sea that had been fired by a U-boat moving in to attack the rear of the convoy. The Saguenay increased her speed and made for the position of the flare. At approximately 3:50 am, the submarine was sighted half a mile distant. Almost simultaneously, a torpedo struck the Saguenay. The torpedo had been fired by the Italian submarine Argo. The Saguenay bow was blown off, and flames broke out and raced through the ship. The Argo surfaced again, circling to get in a second shot. Able Seaman Clifford McNaught demonstrated the kind of courage indicative of the remaining crew. Clifford McNaught was suffering from painful burns to his face, and his hands were horribly mangled. He nevertheless dashed forward to assist the short-handed gun crew by passing shells to them. The Saguenay crew were able to fend off the Argo. The British destroyer Highlander arrived within an hour or so to find the Saguenay limping slowly forward. Ninety men were transferred to the Highlander to reduce casualties in case of another torpedo attack. Throughout the night and most of the next day, a skeleton crew remained on board the Saguenay continuing to fight the fires.
By noon of the next day, the Saguenay, “the ship that would not sink” had managed to limp to a British port on one engine. The ship would be out of service for six months. A total of 21 of the HMCS Saguenay crew lost their lives in the U-boat attack, and another 18 were wounded. Two of the lost crew members were from Sarnia. Paul Brown was reported missing and feared killed in action in the damaging of the destroyer Saguenay. Paul Brown would later be officially listed as, Death due to enemy action, at sea. Also on board the ship was Hector Le Gare, who would also be killed in the attack on the ship, and has his name on the Sarnia cenotaph. Paul Brown and Hector Le Gare were the second and third casualties from Sarnia to lose their lives in the Second World War.
Approximately one week prior to the attack, Paul’s sister, Miss Jean Brown, a school teacher in Sault Ste. Marie, had received a letter from Paul, but it was so rigorously censored that she could not derive much information from it. Paul’s brother, Russ Brown, has been corresponding with Paul, and the two brothers had hopes of spending Christmas together in Halifax. A week after the attack, Paul’s other sister, Miss Eleanor Brown in Sarnia, would receive a telegram from the Minister of National Defence for Naval Affairs, informing her that Paul was missing. At an assembly at Sarnia Collegiate, principal F.C. Asbury announced the loss of the two former students, which was followed by a period of silence in respect to the memory of the two Canadian sailors.
Paul Brown was the first member of the Central Century Club to pay the Supreme Sacrifice. In mid-December of 1940, Paul Brown was honoured at a service at Central United Church. The pastor of the church, Rev. E.W. Jewittnpaid tribute by saying, “These young men who are giving their lives are giving them to preserve the freedom and liberty of us all.” Twenty-year old Paul Brown has no known grave. His name is inscribed on the Halifax Memorial, Nova Scotia, Panel 4.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, N, P, S, T, U, X, Z, 2A, 2C, 2D