Captain Roy Brown Statue
Conceptual drawing of the statue for Roy Brown: The statue is being created by a well-known sculptor David Clendining of Quebec. The site is laid out in approximately a 30-foot circle, where the statue of Roy Brown is surrounded by a 30-foot stone wall that replicates a wall battered by bullets in the war. Roy is positioned to look up river at Carleton Place's Town Hall. Just a little further from that same site line is his family home and business. The site will include a bronzed Sopwith propeller.
Arthur Roy Brown - A Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force Pilot in the First World War, Brown (1893 – 1944) was instrumental in forcing the famous air battle of 21 April 1918 in which the famed German Ace, Baron Manfred Von Richthofen was downed. Captain A. Roy Brown was officially accredited with the downing of Von Richthofen, an accreditation that still stands. A skilled military pilot, teacher and leader, Brown never lost a single man and served with distinction.
In his post war years, he became a pioneer bush pilot operating General Aviation Airways, primarily in Quebec. He went on to run for Parliament in his later years with a campaign of providing benefits for veterans. He saw firsthand, and experienced, the stresses that survivors of war endured. Today, those benefits are taken for granted.
Brown died in middle age, essentially ignored by history, and buried in an unmarked grave. That changed four years ago when Nadine Carter, an 11-year-old girl from Stouffville, Ontario, began researching his life for a school project. Shocked at the lack of recognition he had received, she led the way to see Brown was commemorated with a proper grave marker. Several ceremonies followed, with events in Toronto, Stouffville and Carleton Place. Brown was inducted as a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in June 2018 as a result of these efforts and was recognized in the House of Commons. Nadine was awarded the Ontario junior citizen of the year award by the Ontario newspaper association in recognition of her efforts to honour Brown
The Roy Brown Society was founded to preserve and promote the incredible life story of Captain Arthur Roy Brown DSC, of Carleton Place, Ontario. The Town of Carleton Place is justifiably proud of its role in providing many skilled airmen to fight overseas in both World Wars. A. Roy Brown was one of those men.
Brown has been recognized previously in his hometown with a streetscape mural, a provincial heritage plaque, and in the name given to its most recently created riverfront park. The Roy Brown Society feels no town should be without a statue reflecting their proud heritage and is currently fundraising for construction of a 2.1-metre-high bronze likeness of Roy Brown. The statue will be prominent on the town’s main street and will be the basis for further commemoration of local airmen.
We need your help to attain our goal of $35,000. We invite you to learn more about Captain A. Roy Brown and consider helping with a monetary contribution to the project. Any amount will help us to reach our goal. The project has been awarded grants from Veterans' Affairs Canada and Heritage Canada totaling some $125,000, and another $25,000 has been pledged by local donors.
The Town of Carleton Place has donated a prominent piece of land for the statue.
The Roy Brown Statue Project needs to raise another $35,000.00 to reach the full goal of completion for this coming spring 2020. We thank you for your support. Tax receipts will be issued for amounts over $20.
Learn more at captroybrown.ca
Donate at www.gofundme.com/f/captain-a-roy-brown-statue-project or cheque made out to
“The Town of Carleton Place”
Roy Brown Society
Box 162
Carleton Place, ON K7C 3P3
Yours,
Robert Probert, President - The Roy Brown Society
cpbmuseum@outlook.com
613-253-7013