Trooper Norman Stanley Le Brun
Unit 2/10 Cavalry Commando Squadron
Died Aitape near Lae, New Guinea, November 15, 1944,
aged 36
Five games for Carlton, 1935

A remarkable football nomad with real ability, Norm Le Brun played with three other VFL clubs (South Melbourne, Essendon and Collingwood) before making his debut for Carlton at the age of 27. Following the declaration of World War II in 1939, Norman volunteered for active service, and was eventually named for this nation’s elite Commando force.

Norman Stanley Le Brun was born in the Victorian seaside village of Sorrento in 1908, but his family later moved to inner-suburban Richmond. He grew into a stocky, well-built youngster with football talent and tenacity in equal measure; the product of a harsh childhood in an environment where only the toughest prospered.

Norman’s mother boasted a Cape Verdean/Jamaican heritage whilst his father's parents hailed from Jersey and Scotland.

When the Great Depression devastated Australia’s economy in 1928, the working class were hardest hit. Even the most menial of jobs became scarce, so football ability was a valuable asset. was playing with Richmond’s Reserves team in 1929 and supplementing his meagre match payments (for wins only - losses paid nothing) with occasional brick-laying jobs, when South Melbourne enticed him to the Lake Oval with the promise of senior selection.

Norman spent only one season with the Bloods, during which he found it hard to hold a regular place in their talented team. After three senior matches as a rover/forward, he headed north to Bendigo in 1930, and joined Sandhurst, where he was a sensation from his first match. Fearless and hard at the contest, he was a terrier in the packs and ran all day. He was a worthy joint winner of the League’s Best and Fairest that season, sharing the honour with another future Blue in Creswell ‘Mickey’ Crisp.

By then, someone with links to Windy Hill had passed on the nuggety rover’s credentials, and in 1931 he was coaxed back into VFL football.

In 1933, after two seasons and 23 senior appearances for Essendon, Norman was on the move again - this time to Collingwood. Two years at Victoria Park added 19 games and 23 goals to his resume, before he headed off once more and landed at Carlton in 1935.

The Navy Blues had narrowly missed the finals in 1934, yet held high hopes of doing much better the next year with the added talent and experience of Rod McLean, Clete Turner and 27 year-old Norman Le Brun, who all joined new coach Frank Maher’s team for the opening round of the season against Geelong at Princes Park. But in that cliff-hanger of a match, Geelong’s veteran full-forward George Moloney goaled in the dying minutes to deny the Carlton debutants a win.

That defeat was perhaps an omen for Norman, because although Carlton recovered from a bad start to the season and made the finals, he was only selected in four more games all year. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that his VFL career came to an end with him on the move once more, to VFA heavyweights Coburg.

Norman spent two seasons with the Lions, another with South Warrnambool, then in 1940 captained and coached New South Wales club Ganmain to the South Western District League Premiership. By then, Hitler’s Nazis were marching into Poland, and World War II was about to bring death and destruction to the world on a massive scale.

Norm Le Brun was one of the thousands of Australians who signed up to serve for the duration of the war, and underwent basic army training. After passing all the selection processes and undergoing intensive instruction, he joined the 2/10th Commando Squadron in the jungles of New Guinea.

On November 15, 1944, while pursuing retreating Japanese forces through thick jungle, Trooper Le Brun was shot and killed by an enemy sniper concealed among the roots of a large tree.

Australia lost another precious son that day, when a varied, hectic, yet never boring life was ended at the age of 36.