Richard Edmund Brennan was born on July 21, 1913, in San Diego, San Diego County, California, to Edmund and Caroline (Main) Brennan. Richard was the oldest of five children born to Edmund and Caroline. The 1920 Census shows the family living in Fresno County, California, with Edmund as farmer. By 1930 Census the family moved to Burlingame, San Mateo County, California, and the father is a building trades plasterer.

Richard completed grammar school and graduated from the San Mateo High School in about 1931.

In April 1937 Richard married Barbara Cronan in Burlingame where they made their home. Richard is listed as in business in San Francisco; they resided in Burlingame.

The 1940 Census shows Richard and Barbara living in Burlingame with their two-year old daughter. Richard lists his employment as that of a printer for a printer company.

On October 16, 1940, Richard Edmund Brennan completed his World War II draft registration card. It states he is 27 years old and is employed at the American Building Maintenance Company. He is listed as 6 feet tall, weighs 155 pounds, and has a dark complexion with black hair and brown eyes. He lists his wife, Barbara Phyllis Brennan, as his next of kin.

In 1941 a son would be born to Richard and Barbara. Sadly, Barbara would die on October 29, 1942, in San Francisco, California.

On December 19, 1942, Richard Edmund Brennan enlisted in the U. S. Army in San Francisco, California, as a private (PVT), service #39117715. His enlistment record shows he is a widower with dependents, has completed four years of high school and his civil occupation is “plumbers, gas fitters, and steam fitters.” His enlistment also states he residence is in San Mateo County, California.

Sometime between December 19, 1942, and May 19, 1944, Richard Edmund Brennan married Juanita Brennan. His wife, Juanita, was listed as his next of kin contact person.

PVT Brennan passed the mental screening examination for the Army Air Corps (USAAF) and was classified to the Army Air Corps as an enlisted man. As an enlisted man in the Air Corps, he received the same primary, basic and flight training as pilots but would graduate as a Staff Sergeant (S/SGT).

PVT Brennan received basic training that included military disciplines and courtesy; close order drills; first aid and protection against diseases; physical conditioning; defense guard enemy attack; and care and use of weapons.

After completion of his basic training, PVT Brennan attended gunnery school. This was a six-week training course that began with students firing pellet guns at indoor target galleries and then progressing to skeet shooting outdoors with shotguns and finally to machine gun ranges where the trainees fired .30 and .50 caliber weapons. Class work was also required that included aircraft recognition, range estimation, Morse code, and the theory of ballistics.

PVT Brennan was then sent to “flexible gunnery training.” Flexible gunnery training was five-weeks in length where trainees developed diverse skills for various aircraft and started on the ground using mounted shotguns with fixed arcs of fire, and then shotguns mounted on the backs of trucks, which were driven through a course. The students then went up in the bombers, shooting at targets pulled by other aircraft.

After completion of all required training, PVT Brennan earned his gunner’s wings and was promoted to staff sergeant (S/SGT).

S/SGT Brennan was assigned to Rapid City, South Dakota, where he trained with a crew in a B-17 Flying Fortress; he completed that training in July 1943.

S/SGT Brennan was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 94th Bomber Group, 331st Bombardment (Heavy) Squadron, which was stationed near Cambridge, England.

The 94th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was originally activated on June 15, 1942, at McDill Field in Florida. The 94th Bombardment Group included the 331st, 332nd, 333rd and 410th Bomb Squadrons. They flew missions in the European Theater of Operations and conducted strategic bombing missions over enemy targets.

S/SGT Brennan was assigned as the right waist gunner to a crew piloted by 1LT Marion Reed. In addition to the pilot and right waist gunner, the crew consisted of a co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, radio operator, engineer/top turret gunner, left waist gunner, a tail gunner and a ball turret gunner.

On May 19, 1944, the 8th Air Force was involved in a strategic bombing assault on Berlin, the Nazi capital of Germany. 1LT Marion Reid and his crew (B-17G, aircraft #42-31540 - named Miss Donna Mae II), which also included in this mission a Radar Observer as a crew member, were one of the B-17 Flying Fortresses flying in formation and being protected by escort fighter planes.

The “Miss Donna Mae II” aircraft was hit by a 1000-lb bomb from the aircraft flying overhead in the assigned high squadron when the Miss Donna Mae II “drifted beneath another bomber in the formation. A 1000-lb bomb from the aircraft above struck the left horizontal stabilizer of the B-17, smashing it downward against the fuselage, possible jamming critical control cables.”

The trail section of the aircraft, which included the left stabilizer, was broken off and caused the aircraft to go into a straight nosedive. This incident occurred directly over the target of Berlin as the signal “bombs away” was given.

S/SGT Richard Edmund Brennan was killed in action (KIA), along with the rest of the crew. His remains were recovered and interred in the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium (Plot D, Row 8, Grave 29).

This cemetery is maintained by the American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC). ABMC is an agency of the federal government that was created by the U. S. Congress in 1923 to be the guardian of Americans oversees to honor their service, achievements, sacrifices and to fulfill the promise of General of the Armies John Pershing when he promised “Time will not dim the glory of their deeds.”

S/SGT Richard Edmund Brennan was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, the World War II Victory medal and the European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign medal.

SOURCES USED:

Ancestry.com: Birth Records; Census Records; U.S. World War II Draft Cards

Young Men, 1940-1947; Applications for Headstones; Newspaper Articles

Findagrave.com

Fold3.com: Military Records, Missing Air Crew Reports #4946

https://www.americanmuseum.com/person/154344

www.usaaf.com/8th_bomb_SQD/94_BG.html

Bombing of Berlin in World War II – Wikipedia

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/192509

If you noticed anything missing in this profile or have any details, photos, or corrections, please contact the author: Christy Erickson, Contributing Author: clerickson220@gmail.com

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the U.S. WWII fallen and saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the name of the fallen and read his/her story.

Richard E Brennan