Warrant Officer 2 Lawrence Roberts Brazier

Original wartime attestation confirms Lawrence Roberts Brazier, R54770, born 27 March 1915, United Church, married, clerk, and resident at 7820 De L'Epee Avenue, Montreal. His wife Gladys was next of kin. Postwar correspondence shows the family later served overseas in Europe and returned to Trenton in 1962. Son George was born about November 1938 and was still treated as a dependent while in school in 1959-60. A 1965 hospital history records that he and Gladys had three children, then aged 26, 19 and 17. The same history records seven sisters and five brothers; his father died at age 53 of coronary thrombosis, his mother had diabetes, one brother had died overseas, and another brother had died of epilepsy. Medical records show an earlier 1-10 November 1960 admission at 3(F) Wing, Zweibrücken, Germany for fibromyositis/back pain and essential hypertension. By July 1963 the hypertension was described as longstanding, with hypertensive retinal disease and ECG evidence of left ventricular stress/LVH. A November 1945 service medical examination records occupation as salesman and weight 259 lb, with obesity already noted.

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Lawrence Roberts Brazier BIRTH 27 MAR 1915 • Montréal, Montréal (Urban Agglomeration), Quebec, Canada DEATH 30 APR 1968 • Toronto, Ont.
Request confirmation number EA2026_0173074

Brazier enlisted in the RCAF Special Reserve at Montreal on 26 January 1940 as Aircraftman Second Class, service number R54770. A certified 1949 statement of service records advancement to Aircraftman First Class, Leading Aircraftman, Temporary Corporal, Temporary Sergeant and Temporary Flight Sergeant during wartime service. He completed RCAF Special Reserve service on 30 September 1946 and immediately continued in the Regular RCAF from 1 October 1946, initially as Sergeant under service number 21206. His postwar career included service at No. 1 Supply Depot, Weston, No. 11 Technical Services Unit, St. Laurent, Air Material Command, 6 Repair Depot at Trenton, and overseas with 3 Fighter Wing in Europe. He ultimately attained Warrant Officer 2 and was released on medical grounds on 26 May 1966. Postwar promotion evidence now establishes WO2 seniority from 1 April 1955. Contemporary 1954 records still identify him as Flight Sergeant, including an unsuccessful June 1954 application for commissioned rank and a September 1954 recommendation for promotion.

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Wife: Gladys Irena Whyte Brazier, born 8 Jan 1917, married 21 May 1938. Certified birth extract names father George Frederic George Brazier and mother Margaret Jane Esther Dean. The obituary identifies son George Robert, daughter Lorraine, brother Albert, and sisters Dorothy Adams, Isabel Devine, Muriel Plunkett, Margaret Chevallier, Myrtle MacLaren and Marion Grandin.

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The original 1940 RCAF Special Reserve attestation resolves the wartime service number as R54770; later Regular RCAF records use 21206. He enlisted voluntarily at Montreal on 26 January 1940, occupation clerk, religion United Church, married to Gladys Irene Whyte Brazier, and reported no previous military service. The 1949 certified statement of service gives the wartime sequence AC2 26 Jan 1940; AC1 26 Apr 1940; LAC 26 Jul 1940; Temporary Corporal 15 Oct 1940; Temporary Sergeant 1 Mar 1941; Temporary Flight Sergeant 1 Jun 1942 through 30 Sep 1946. Regular RCAF service began 1 Oct 1946 as Sergeant. A 1958-62 storage-of-effects record shows overseas service with 3 Fighter Wing, Canadian Armed Forces Europe, followed by return to 6 Repair Depot Trenton in July 1962. Family correspondence establishes son George Brazier, born about 3 Nov 1938, who remained financially dependent while attending school and received outside-Canada hospital-insurance consideration in 1959-60. In March-April 1965 Brazier was admitted to Canadian Forces Hospital Kingston from 25 March to 12 April for an extensive medical assessment; the reviewed laboratory and nursing records are preserved as medical evidence without over-interpreting diagnoses at this stage. This continuous 1940-1966 career remains one WW2-anchored service record. Medical records reviewed in the restarted Pass 3 show a long history of obesity and hypertension. A March-April 1965 admission at Canadian Forces Hospital Kingston was specifically for investigation of gross obesity and essential hypertension; the case history states that both dated back to about 1942 and records a weight of about 290 lb and markedly elevated blood pressure. The investigation documented hypertensive retinal changes and an abnormal ECG compatible with left ventricular hypertrophy. Consultants also recorded latent diabetes and hyperuricemia during the work-up. On 28 July 1965 a consultant recommended medical category ApBp because of gross exogenous obesity, essential hypertension and latent diabetes. On 16 September 1965 the consultant remained firmly of the view that Brazier was physically unfit to remain in the service because of obesity and severe essential hypertension, with hypertensive retinopathy also noted. Earlier records document nasal polyps treated surgically at CFH Kingston on 29 November 1963, with malignant hypertension managed during the admission. These findings provide the clinical background for the eventual compulsory medical retirement. Earlier medical records add important chronology. Brazier was hospitalized at 3(F) Wing, Zweibrücken, Germany from 1 to 10 November 1960 for back pain and essential hypertension; the history states that he had first been told of elevated blood pressure about a year earlier and reproduces elevated readings going back to 1955. A 2 November 1960 ECG was later interpreted as compatible with left ventricular hypertrophy. He was again hospitalized at Canadian Forces Hospital Kingston from 3 to 25 July 1963 for investigation of longstanding hypertension and obesity. The discharge diagnosis included hypertensive cardiovascular disease and hypertensive vascular disease of the retina; the summary described Grade 3, possibly Grade 4, retinopathy and ECG evidence of left ventricular stress, while renal investigation did not establish a secondary renal cause. This range also confirms that he was serving with 3(F) Wing RCAF at Zweibrücken, Germany by 1960-61. Trade and assessment records now fill a substantial part of the postwar posting gap. A Trade Record Sheet records 1 Supply Depot from January 1953 to June 1954, instructor duties at the Joint Services Packaging School in Montreal from September 1954 to September 1956, and AMCHQ from September 1956 to April 1958, followed by 3(F) Wing. A Course Record Sheet records a two-week Joint Services Packages course at Toledo, Ohio in May 1951. In October 1961, while WO2 and Supply Technician 3 at 3(F) Wing, he was described as assistant Materiel Control Officer in the Supply Section and strongly recommended for promotion; the recommendation was subsequently marked insufficient quota, so no promotion is inferred from it. Promotion records in this pass resolve an earlier ambiguity. The Course Record Sheet listing a May 1951 course was compiled later and carries Brazier's later WO2 rank in its header; it does not prove he was WO2 in 1951. Contemporary records show him as Flight Sergeant in June and September 1954. He was subsequently promoted to Warrant Officer 2 with a seniority date of 1 April 1955. In September 1954 he was appointed the RCAF representative on a Joint Services Committee assisting with the Packaging Course and moved to 25 Central Ordnance Depot, Montreal, in November 1954. Course records show him instructing/working in packaging materials and packing and being considered qualified in both areas. Wartime personnel papers provide original corroboration of the 1942 promotion sequence: Brazier was appointed Acting Flight Sergeant (unpaid) effective 30 March 1942 and paid Temporary Flight Sergeant effective 1 June 1942. A 30 November 1945 RCAF medical examination, completed while he was still in service, records him as married, occupation salesman, 71 inches tall and 259 lb, with obesity specifically noted and medical category A4B. The form also states that he had previously been rated up for life insurance because of overweight. These findings show that marked weight gain/obesity was already documented by late 1945, decades before the hypertension/obesity-related medical release, but the 1945 measurements do not replace the original 1940 enlistment measurements in the database fields. Earlier 1955 medical records add a separate sequence unrelated to the later hypertension retirement. In February 1955 he was treated for traumatic synovitis after a knee injury. From 20 to 24 June he was admitted to St. Hubert Infirmary with a painful left buttock/perianal abscess and cellulitis that drained and initially resolved. Persistent drainage led to surgical consultation in August; a left-sided fistula-in-ano was diagnosed, and he was admitted to Montreal Military Hospital from 8 to 24 August 1955. The fistulous tract was laid open on 11 August and he made an uncomplicated postoperative recovery. A consultant explicitly linked the August fistula to the June perianal abscess. Release Pack 1 pp.431-490 were reviewed as a separate pass. They consist mainly of laboratory, ophthalmology, radiology, ECG, nursing and clinical records that duplicate or corroborate the already-extracted 1960-65 hypertension, obesity, hypertensive retinal disease, LVH and nasal-polyp history. They were deliberately not converted into duplicate chronology or patient-admission rows. Release Pack 1 pp.491-550 were reviewed directly from the rendered pages. They are predominantly continuation medical records—case histories, ophthalmology/fundus examinations, chest radiology, laboratory testing, temperature/pulse charts, treatment records, bedside notes and consultant reports—corroborating the previously extracted 1963-65 hypertension, obesity, hypertensive retinal disease and cardiovascular/LVH work-up. No separate admission or materially new service-history fact was found, so these pages were not converted into duplicate chronology or Patient Admissions rows. Release Pack 1 pp.551-566 were reviewed and complete Pack 1. They continue the already-extracted March-April 1965 hypertension/obesity investigation with radiology, ophthalmic field and laboratory documentation; no separate event was created. Pagination QA found that Release Pack 2 contains 218 PDF pages, so its pp.151-218 remain to be reviewed. Final review of Release Pack 2 located the original 1940 Medical History form and resolves the previously uncertain enlistment physical measurements. Examined 11 January 1940, Brazier was recorded as 5 ft 11 in (71 in), 211 lb, chest 43.5 in with 3.5 in expansion; brown hair, fair complexion and blue eyes; occupation Clerk. These original values supersede the earlier tentative reading of the enlistment physical. The same form confirms enlistment at RCAF Montreal Recruiting on 26 January 1940 and assignment to the RCAF Manning Pool, Toronto. The remaining pages 151-206 are chiefly medical continuation/corroboration and did not warrant duplicate admission rows. Final QA confirms that both release packs have now been reviewed in full. No wartime overseas posting was identified, so the WWII degree of service is Canada; Brazier’s later 1958-62 service at Zweibrücken, Germany, is postwar service and remains documented separately. No prisoner-of-war evidence was found. The only remaining rank uncertainty is the exact postwar date on which he advanced from Sergeant to Flight Sergeant; contemporary records establish Flight Sergeant by June 1954 and WO2 seniority from 1 April 1955.