“It came out of the blue – his daughter came and told us,” museum volunteer Blew Maning said.

“He left the museum $1000, which is quite a sum for us … we greatly appreciate it and it will be used in part to upgrade our collection database.”

Sergeant Claude David Brown served in New Guinea during World War Two.

He was with the Intelligence Section of the 8^th Battalion AIF and was part of a number of exhausting intelligence gathering patrols in the rugged rainforests west of Lae in May, 1944. In October he was part of M Special Unit working on Japanese-occupied New Hanover Island.

In May, 1945 he joined the 2/8 Commando Squadron, playing an active part in ambushing manoeuvres behind Japanese lines on Bougainville.

He was in a unit that accepted the surrender of local Japanese troops on Buka Island on August 21 that year.

When hostilities ended he worked at the Torokina Rehabiliation Training Centre, where soldiers were being assisted to return to civilian life. Claude volunteered to teach wool classing and fleeces were flown form Australia as teaching aids.

He was promoted to full Sergeant at the time of his discharge in June, 1946.

His family wrote:

“When Claude was born, he was only a small cog in the framework of great design, but he believed that everyone of us has a duty to perform so that the ultimate objective is the defence of our nation and the preservation of our Christian way of life.

“If we neglect and forget the values that our forefathers fought for, our nation is at risk of losing its soul – that intangible something that gives each of us the inner strength to cope with the uncertainties of life.”