AM for Veterans’ Advocate, Sharon Bown
Veteran’s advocate and former AFA National Vice President, Wing Commander (Retd) Sharon Bown has been recognised as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the King's Birthday 2023 Honours.
A Nursing Officer in the RAAF, Sharon was seriously injured and narrowly escaped death in Timor-Leste in 2004, when working as an aeromedical evacuation nurse when the UN helicopter she was travelling in crashed in a violent storm. She survived a broken back, a shattered jaw, and aviation fuel burns and not surprising, was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Showing tremendous resilience, Sharon later served as a commander of a surgical team in Afghanistan in 2008.
In 2016 Sharon was appointed to the Council of the Australian War Memorial for a three-year term, which was recently extended a further three years.
Sharon is a powerful veterans’ advocate as a Member of the Council of the Australian War Memorial, Ambassador for Phoenix Australia, and representative of those who suffer and have suffered from trauma.
In 2021, Sharon was appointed an Official Ambassador for the Air Force Association following a tenure as National Vice-President, Air Force Association.