Three Men of Valor

Three men were honored for valor in Canada last week: one in death, one on his homecoming, one with the British Empire's rarest medal.

Champion's Champion. Roy Brown's greatest moment came in the early morning of April 21, 1918. He had been in almost daily aerial combat on the western front for 14 months. His nerves were dangerously taut. Said he: "Milk and brandy were my only food [for two weeks]. ..." That morning he swooped unseen behind an Albatross, bagged the famed, ferocious Red Knight of Germany, Baron Manfred von Richthofen.

When Australian machine gunners later disputed the kill, Brown never made any extravagant claims. In civilian life he was a small, unassertive man, greying and dapper in later years. Last week, at his peaceful farm near Toronto, Captain Roy Brown, D.S.O., D.F.C. with bar, quietly died in bed.

Homing Angel. "Here comes the Angel!" the Marauder pilots used to shout when Wing Commander Lloyd Vernon Chadburn brought his R.C.A.F. Spitfires into action. In escorting U.S. bombers on 60 sorties over enemy territory, Chadburn's wing lost only one bomber, accounted for 44 of the enemy (twelve by the Wing Commander himself). For this work, Chadburn became the first R.C.A.F. member to win a bar to his D.S.O. At Dieppe he had previously won the D.F.C. Home to Canada this week came blond, soft-spoken Wing Commander Chadburn, 24, for a well-earned rest.

They Did Not Pass. Paul Andre Triquet's great-grandfather fought in the Crimean War for Napoleon III; his grandfather fought the Germans who invaded his native France in 1870; his father, who emigrated to Canada, returned in 1914 to fight the Germans again. It seemed only natural for Paul at 19 to enlist as a private in the Royal 22nd Regiment, the "Van Doos."

A sergeant major at the start of World War II, he was a captain when the 1st Canadian Division moved to Italy. In December Captain Triquet, 80 Van Doos and six tanks were ordered to take tiny Casa Berardi, where German troops barred the road to Ortona. In the first advance towards the gun-studded stone houses, half of Triquet's men and all his officers were either killed or wounded. Said Triquet: "The only safe place is our objective." He, two sergeants and 15 men made it. There they dug in and Triquet repeated Nivelle's famed order at Verdun, "Ils ne passeront pas" (they shall not pass). Through successive German attacks the handful held their ground. Next morning the Canadians poured through and stormed on to Ortona.

Last week Paul Andre Triquet lay on a hospital bed in Italy. He had not been wounded in battle but while instructing at a battle school. He had also become a national hero. "For determined leadership and example," Major Triquet had been awarded the Victoria Cross. He was the fourth Canadian to be awarded the coveted ribbon in World War II, the first living French Canadian.

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