Already fluent in French, Brownjohn became an interpreter in Russian.[4] In 1927 he was sent to China to protect the international settlement in Shanghai; he used his skills as a Russian speaker to raise a works company of White Russians headed by a former Tsarist engineer officer.[8] He married Isabelle White in 1929; they had one son.[3][2]
Brownjohn served in the Second World War, initially in the War Office.[4] He became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 1 July 1941 in the 1941 Birthday Honours,[14] and was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel 18 September 1941, with seniority backdated to 1 January 1941.[15] He was brigadier, general staff, Home Forces, from 1941 to 1942.[16] He was granted the acting rank of major general non 27 July 1942,[17] and the temporary rank on 27 July 1943.[18] He was deputy Major General, Administration at Home Forces from 1942 to 1943.[16]
In 1943 he joined the staff of the chief of staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (Designate) (COSSAC) as the Principal Administrative Officer (PAO), and in this role was involved in developing the supply and administrative arrangements for Operation Overlord.[19] When COSSAC was absorbed into General Dwight D. Eisenhower's SHAEF in February 1944, Brownjohn became the Deputy Chief of Staff (G-4), the staff officer responsible for logistics under the American staff system. He remained in the role in charge until he was appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General in the Middle East in August 1944.[20] He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1944 Birthday Honours on 8 June 1944.[21] He was promoted to the substantive rank of major general on 10 December 1945, with seniority backdated to 17 April 1944.[22] He was awarded the American Legion of Merit on 17 October 1946 and the American Presidential Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm on 14 May 1948 [23][24]
After retiring from the Army, he became the Chairman of the Crawley Development Corporation and a Member
of the Commission for the New Towns, posts he held until he was 69. He also served with charitable organisations and was on the Trustee Council of the Douglas Haig Memorial Homes. He died on 21 April 1973.[4]
Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A Biographical Guide to the Key British Generals of World War II. Stroud: Spellmount. ISBN978-1-86227-431-0. OCLC171539131.
