The War Memorial of John Brew, 1874-1917

The War Memorial of Private John Brew, 39th Battalion Australian Infantry AIF, who was killed on Messines Ridge on 8 June 1917, aged 43, is located on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium. The memorial is situated on the eastern side of Ypres (Ieper) on the road to Menin (Menen).

John was the son of the late Richard and Elizabeth Brew, of Lyons Street, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, and a native of Great Crosby, Liverpool, England, who came to Australia when he was 25 years old. His brother, Captain Henry Brew, survived the war but another brother, Private Samuel Brew, and his cousin, 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Brew, DCM, were also both killed in action. Further information on John is held by the Australian War Memorial.

The Menin Gate Memorial is one of four in Belgian Flanders to servicemen with no known grave, who died in battles on the Ypres Salient during the First World War. The first of three major battles here commenced in October 1914, the second in April 1915 and the third in late 1917. The Menin Gate Memorial commemorates more than 54,000 officers and men who fell on the Ypres Salient prior to 16 August 1917, who have no known grave.

Click on an image to see an enlarged version. The first of these photographs was taken in May 1992 [John Brew appears at the bottom left of the panel], and the remaining three on 26 September 2002. It surprised me to see how much John's name has deteriorated during the ten years between photographs.

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