Brown, Harry - S/Sgt
Written by the editorial staff at the MD44 press office!
Well… I’ve known Harry a long time now… so long that when he used to buy things from me, he was so young that his Nan used to Paypal me the money on his behalf! A fact my wife likes to remind me of from time to time, and is often referred to in our house as ‘Little Harry’, bless him… although he’s not that little anymore. Harry is very new to re-enacting/living history and it wasn’t until I bumped into him at Stoneleigh militaria fair when looking out for my Garand I purchased that I mention it to him in passing. I didn’t really think he would be that interested in it… but he dived head first into this hobby and is one of the most reliable members of MD44, I jokingly referred to him as ‘the rock’ when talking with Sam about what members are coming to which events as he is always coming to everything. I first met Harry through relic hunting in Extreme Relic Hunters (now deleted, only their publishing name exists) that I used to run with a friend. Harry was one of the very early members to join and was always active on the chat despite his young age when he joined. He had some interesting run ins with some of the morons over the years… then again, didn’t we all.
Harry started in MD44 as a rifleman and quickly jumped into Sam’s boots as S/Sgt when he went up to company HQ as Cpt. Quite a fitting role really for his mean scary look that he pulls for most photos! As well as being one of the founding members of MD44, he is also one of the most entertaining… also a bit like Sam who gives his impression of members, Harry likes to play along too, one of his stupid voices is still my ringtone after most of the group was taking the piss out of me! Along with his Indian voices, Harry can do some interesting animal noises which came about after he blew a seagull out the sky and it made an interest squarrrrkk-squarrrkkkk noise. However, his most entertaining moment are when sitting around the camp fire in the evening and he starts to tell us a story of something he has done. I think most members would all have their favourite and most would probably be the ‘Nazi Harry’ story. I won’t give it away here, but if you’re ever around the fire with him, feel free to ask him about it.
In his normal life when he is not out scary girls in an effort to remain single for ever, he works as a sparky and goes to some desperate measure to talk to people about it… like smashing his car into others, just so he can have a conversation with an old man about doing electrical work. When I say ‘car’ what I mean is, his monster truck that does 2 miles to the gallon. Although it does come in really handy in blunting all the thorns through the narrow hedge entrance to the top of the re-enacting field… makes some nice patterns in his paint work too. With the added bonus of carrying a lot of kit and people hanging off all the bars and steps on the outside… even if some people get thrown off along the way “bye Max…..*waves*”. Harry enjoys to keep himself active, as well as boxing he likes to test how fast he can run by using those speed camera signs that tell you what speed you doing… yes it really does work.
Harry has had a couple of highlights since joining MD44, the one that will always spring to mind is his jumpsuit after he did the CC2 treatment… instead of using wood oil, he used wood varnish! The trousers and jacket could stand up on their own, it felt more like a
suit of iron and was probably near to bullet proof as fabric can be. The other would be the following. I asked a lot of people’s parents or partners to write a letter like they were actually away at war. I would then do a mail call and hand them out. They all had to keep it a secret and I would surprise them all. Harrys Mum agreed and sent me a letter, which I put in an old looking envelope, put an old stamp on it, franked it and wrote sensor marks on the back. Lots of the others members got them too, except for Callum, Callum had a whole story line
in letters all planned out by myself. Written by me, my wife and my daughter which involved many different people. I wrote the role of his Dad. When Callum started reading them he was convinced his Dad had written them as we have identical handwriting… an odd coincidence. When Harry got his letter from his Mum, he then assumed it was also written by me and took some convincing that it was in fact from his mum. Even then he was suspicious until he really was in fact from her… then all of sudden it clicked in his mind that I had been talking to his Mum without his knowledge and I said “Yeah, I talk to her all the time!”… I’m not sure if he was terrified or horrified!
Harry comes from Oxford, oddly enough so do a few of us in MD44. Although his best friend Ayla is no longer in the group. As well as boxing, I got him interested in dirtbikes when he was at mine one weekend and since has purchase one with a friend.
Birthday - 2nd April
In infraction book – no
Smokes - yes