Colonel Malcolm Sutherland-Brown served as Colonel-Commandant of the Canadian Military Engineers October 1982 - October 1988. He died in Ottawa in January 1999.
During the night 18/19 July 1944, 7 Canadian Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, under the command of Major Brown, constructed a bridge over the River Orne at Caen. On the two previous nights successful reconnaissance of the near bank for suitable bridging sites were carried out under heavy mortar and machine gun fire under the personal direction and supervision of Major Brown. High banks and the scarcity of information regarding obstacles created by recent heavy bombing made the selection of a suitable landing place extremely difficult, but Major Brown's excellent organization for further reconnaissance on the night of 18 July resulted in the early receipt of the necessary technical information.
Construction of the bridge started shortly after midnight on 18 July and its successful completion shortly after dawn was largely due to Major Brown's skilful organization and personal supervision. The opening of this bridge a few hours after the assault troops had crossed the river enabled the division to quickly consolidate in the bridgehead and to launch an immediate attack on further objectives.