Arnold Brown ( soldier ) Lieutenant - Colonel Arnold Brown OBE , DSO , MC ( 22 July 1894 – 6 March 1960 ) was an Australian army officer who served in the First and Second World Wars . Early life . Born on 22 July 1894 at Hunters Hill in Sydney to English immigrants , Brown attended Sydney Grammar School and then Bathurst Experimental Farm before becoming a jackeroo at Condobolin . He later became an overseer at Cobar . He moved to Western Australia in 1914 . Military career . First World War . Following the outbreak of the First World War , Brown enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) on 5 March 1915 . He was posted as a sergeant in the 28th Battalion and was sent to Gallipoli . Arriving in September , he remained on the peninsula until evacuation in December . On 12 February 1916 he was commissioned in Egypt , and in March was sent with the battalion to France . He was awarded the Military Cross following his actions at the Battle of Pozières and was promoted captain in September 1916 . In November 1916 Brown was shot through the neck at Flers . After receiving treatment in England , he returned to his battalion in January 1917 . In April , he was promoted temporary major . He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions during the Battle of Bullecourt in May . He was wounded again in September , requiring hospitalisation but returned to the field in February 1918 . In April 1919 he returned to Australia and was subsequently discharged from the AIF . Interwar period . Returning to civilian life , Brown married Freda Mary Thompson in Sydney on 6 January 1920 . As part of the soldier settlement program he began farming near Coonabarabran . He was active in the local community , becoming vice - president of the Coonabarabran sub - branch of the Returned Sailors ' and Soldiers ' Imperial League of Australia , president of the local Sane Democracy League and a local commander of the New Guard . He contested the 1931 federal election as a Country Party candidate for Gwydir , but was defeated by a second Country candidate , Aubrey Abbott . He was one of the foundation members of the National Defence League of Australia in 1938 ( he would later become president of its central council ) . Second World War . After the Second World War broke out , Brown rejoined the AIF and was sent to the Middle East with the 2nd / 1st Pioneer Battalion . On 9 March 1941 he was promoted to lieutenant - colonel and he commanded the battalion during its part in the defence of Tobruk . Mentioned in despatches and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1942 , he was appointed commander of the 36th Battalion , then serving in Papua . He serving in this role from May to September , before becoming commander of his previous battalion , now serving in New Guinea . However , his time in this latter command was limited as he became ill and was hospitalised intermittently for five months until March 1943 . Upon his recovery , Brown held administrative positions for the rest of the war in New Guinea , Melbourne , Queensland and Singapore . Following the end of the war he presided over the trials of Japan ese war criminals in Darwin , where his leniency caused some controversy . Later life . Following the end of his service with the AIF on 29 August 1946 , Brown took up a farm near Windsor but poor health intervened . His final public position was director of the Immigration Holding Centre at Scheyville in 1949 . In 1958 he was classified as totally and permanently incapacitated due to his war service . He died at Batemans Bay in 1960 of ischaemic heart disease , survived by his wife and three children . A son had been killed in service with the AIF during the Second World War .