HARRY A. BRANDENBURGER, LT, USN
Henry Brandenburger '21
Lucky Bag
From the 1921 Lucky Bag:
Harry Alfred Brandenburger
Belleville, Illinois
"Brandy"
NOBODY ever heard of Belleville until Brandy came among us, but if the place produces any more like him, it's all right. His unfailing good humor and generosity won the friendship and respect of all with whom he came in contact.
Brandy's athletic career has been confined to hard and consistent work on the football squad. He has not been numbered among the stars but has contributed his share toward Navy victories. Academically, he thinks himself wooden, but he found himself in the savvy half at the end of Youngster year in spite of his gloomy prophecies to the contrary.
As a fusser, he isn't there; the Red Mikes can boast of no member more devoted to their principles than Brandy. His idea of a good time is a movie and a bag of peanuts.
But in spite of all this Brandy will be a good man to go to sea with.
"Say Brandy, dragging tonight?"
"No, I ain't no great hand with the wimmen."
Two Stripes; Expert Rifleman; Football Squad.
The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Henry was graduated with 1921A.
Harry Alfred Brandenburger
Belleville, Illinois
"Brandy"
NOBODY ever heard of Belleville until Brandy came among us, but if the place produces any more like him, it's all right. His unfailing good humor and generosity won the friendship and respect of all with whom he came in contact.
Brandy's athletic career has been confined to hard and consistent work on the football squad. He has not been numbered among the stars but has contributed his share toward Navy victories. Academically, he thinks himself wooden, but he found himself in the savvy half at the end of Youngster year in spite of his gloomy prophecies to the contrary.
As a fusser, he isn't there; the Red Mikes can boast of no member more devoted to their principles than Brandy. His idea of a good time is a movie and a bag of peanuts.
But in spite of all this Brandy will be a good man to go to sea with.
"Say Brandy, dragging tonight?"
"No, I ain't no great hand with the wimmen."
Two Stripes; Expert Rifleman; Football Squad.
The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Henry was graduated with 1921A.
Loss
Harry was lost on May 21, 1935 when the seaplane he was piloting crashed near Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean during fleet exercises.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Harry’s plane, a Martin seaplane 6P7, was in the recent mass flight of 43 planes from Hawaii to Midway Island. Before his crash, another plane, the 6P10, was in the water with one engine dead. It radioed its location at 8:12 p.m. Harry spotted the plane and circled several times radioing the location to the destroyer Breese and the cruiser Raleigh. His last message was at 9:02 p.m. His plane went into a spin and crashed into the ocean.
Other Information
From Find A Grave:
Lt. (Junior Grade) H. A. Brandenburger, USN, was designated Naval Aviator #3256 in 1926. Graduated U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1921 (graduating in 1920 due to the World War).
LT Brandenburger, along with his entire crew of six, died when their seaplane crashed near Midway Is. in the Pacific during fleet exercises.
Despite a massive search effort by the U.S. Fleet, no bodies were ever recovered.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Harry recited Lincoln’s Gettysburg address at Belleville’s Memorial Day program in 1916. He played Jack in the June high school comedy “Engaged by Wednesday,” and he played basketball on the school team.
In the fall, Harry played for the Belleville Tigers football team. On October 29, he scored three touchdowns, and the Tigers won 46-0 over the West End Athletic Club team. On November 12, he fractured his right shoulder in a game reported to be “more like a rough and tumble fight than a football game.”
In mid-October, the Brandenburger property was the site of the high school “wienie” roast. The theme was “13:” 13 girls, 13 boys, Friday the 13th, and it started at 13 minutes after five. Activities included “crack-the-whip,” an Apache war dance, and ghost tales. Harry and his brother Oscar attended. The jinx was broken by the late arrival of four more students.
Harry was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman William A. Rodenberg. He went to Annapolis but then was detailed to a camp in Virginia to train men for the navy. He was sent to Europe, but Armistice was declared shortly thereafter.
He married Jane Ferguson in the summer of 1932 in Los Angeles.
On May 26, 1935, his parents held a memorial service at their home for Harry and his brother Robert who had died in July.
His father was a retired coal operator. His mother joined the Red Cross and knitted garments for the WWI troops.
He was the executive officer of Patrol Squadron (VP) 6F, based in Pearl Harbor. He had been designated Naval Aviator #3256 in 1926.
Harry has one memory marker in California and another in Illinois. He was survived by his wife, Jane Ferguson of California, and their adopted son, Charles, 14 years old, whom they had adopted only the week before. Harry was also survived by his parents and three brothers.
His name was on a plaque in Dahlgren Hall at the Naval Academy until sometime in late 1977 or early 1978, according to his great-nephew.
Family
From his great-nephew via email on June 10, 2020:
It is my understanding that his brother Oscar, my grandfather, born in 1900, was a skilled gymnast, obtained a degree in Civil Engineering from University of Illinois School of Mines (then known as University of Illinois Rolla), built infrastructure in Florida before World War II (he was civil construction manager of a bridge crossing the St. Johns River between Green Cove Springs and Orangedale, south of Jacksonville, which serviced the former Lee Navy Airfield. Lee Navy Airfield was the center of Navy A4 Avenger anti-submarine warfare against Uboats in the South Atlantic during World War II), and then building landing fields and related infrastructure during World War II. One top secret mission included building aircraft guidance beacons for an airstrip in the Caribbean. Because of the heavy infiltration of the South Atlantic with German U-Boats, he moved the equipment and materials needed for the project by wooden-hulled sailboats from the U. S. east coast to the building site, to avoid detection by U-boat.
Photographs
From the Belleville Daily Advocate on May 23, 1935
From the Belleville News Democrat on November 1, 1917. Brother Adolph was on his father’s Texas ranch during the trouble with Villa and his bandits. He enlisted in the Company A, Second Engineering Corps with the Pershing troops in France in WWI. Walter entered ground school for training as a military aviator in WWI. Oscar wanted to join the Marine Corps, but was still a student at Township High School and was captain of the football team. The youngest brother Robert was also captain of his junior high school football team and was a Boy Scout. Robert died in 1934.
Related Articles
Charles Skelly '27 was also lost in this crash.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
January 1921
January 1922
May 1923
July 1923
September 1923
November 1923
January 1924
March 1924
May 1924
July 1924
September 1924
November 1924
January 1925
March 1925
July 1925
October 1925
January 1926
October 1926
January 1927
LT John Jones '21 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23 (Observation Plane Squadron (VO) 1)
April 1927
LT John Jones '21 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
October 1927
January 1928
April 1928
July 1928
October 1928
January 1929
April 1929
July 1929
October 1929
January 1930
April 1930
October 1930
LTjg Richard Downer '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
January 1931
LTjg Richard Downer '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
April 1931
LT Francis Bridget '21 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LT Arnold Isbell '21 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
LTjg Richard Downer '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Robert Winters '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
LTjg Eugene Lindsey '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
ENS John Riggs, Jr. '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
July 1931
LTjg John Waldron '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Richard Downer '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS John Riggs, Jr. '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS Weldon Hamilton '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS John Yoho '29 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
October 1931
LTjg John Waldron '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Richard Downer '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
LTjg John Riggs, Jr. '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS Henry Twohy '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
ENS John Yoho '29 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
January 1932
LTjg John Waldron '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
1LT Donald Willis '24 (Scouting Squadron 15-M)
LTjg Richard Downer '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
LTjg John Riggs, Jr. '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS Henry Twohy '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
ENS John Yoho '29 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
April 1932
LTjg John Waldron '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
1LT Donald Willis '24 (Scouting Squadron 15-M)
LTjg Richard Downer '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
LTjg John Riggs, Jr. '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS Henry Twohy '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
ENS John Yoho '29 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
October 1932
LT William Sample '19 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT John Jones '21 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT William Ault '22 (Torpedo and Bombing Squadron (VT) 1S)
ENS John Yoho '29 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3S)
ENS Edwin Kelly '30 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS Lance Massey '30 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3S)
January 1933
LT William Sample '19 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT John Jones '21 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT William Ault '22 (Torpedo and Bombing Squadron (VT) 1S)
LTjg Henry Twohy '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5S)
ENS Edwin Kelly '30 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 1B)
ENS Victor Gaulin '30 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3S)
ENS Lance Massey '30 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3S)
April 1933
LTjg Arthur Farrell '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
LTjg Henry Twohy '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 5B)
ENS John Yoho '29 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
ENS Victor Gaulin '30 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
ENS Lance Massey '30 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
July 1933
October 1933
April 1934
July 1934
October 1934
January 1935
April 1935
Memorial Hall Error
Harry is incorrectly included as "Henry" in Memorial Hall.
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