Robert B. Brewer
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Robert Burnham "Bob" Brewer (31 January 1924 – 5 December 1996) was a
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
officer during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...
. Brewer was portrayed, without credit by Canadian actor Brandon Firla, in one episode of the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
miniseries '' Band of Brothers''.


Early life

Robert Burnham Brewer was born on 31 January 1924 in Fresno, California.


Career

Brewer was a
Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...
. As a student at the Harvard School in Los Angeles, Brewer excelled in sports and enrolled in ROTC training. In 1942, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and volunteered for duty with the newly forming airborne divisions. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. Brewer was the assistant Platoon Leader of the Second Battalion's 81mm mortar platoon when he parachuted into
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
on
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
. Following the Division's return for rest and refitting in England, he was reassigned to the 1st Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion as assistant platoon leader. Brewer was seriously wounded during Operation Market Garden while taking point with the platoon's scouts, as E Company was advancing into
Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...
. He was a tall officer and stood out from the other men. Winters sent orders for him to pull back, but he was shot by a sniper before he heard the orders. The round hit him in the throat below the jawline, knocking him down. Some of his men ran to his assistance but concluded he was too seriously wounded to survive, and left him to be cared for by the platoon medics. He and medic Albert Mampre, who was shot while helping him, were eventually helped by local farmer, who stenched the flow of blood and dressed Brewer's wound. They were eventually evacuated to an aid station. Brewer rejoined E Company at the end of the war after he had recovered. Following his release from service at the end of the war, Brewer returned to California, married his high school sweetheart, Ruth Bradfield, and enrolled in pre-med courses at the University of California, Berkeley. At the end of his first year, he decided to accept an offer to rejoin the Army, this time as an officer with the
Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...
(OSS), forerunner to the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
(CIA). During training with the CIA, he ran into Amos Taylor, who had joined the CIA after the war as well, and the two became close friends. After training, he and his family moved to Tokyo, where he ran intelligence missions in Korea. After his stint in the Far East, he was reassigned to Fort Knox, Kentucky, and subsequently to Camp Peary, Virginia, where he trained soldiers in covert action. In 1957, he was assigned to a two-year position at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, then to Pakistan and the Philippines. In 1966 he was appointed Senior Province Advisor in Quảng Trị Province, in the
Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with it ...
, the only CIA officer to hold such a post, where he served until the summer of 1968. In January 1968, during the Communist
Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...
, Brewer helped defeat a large assault on Quảng Trị City and nearby South Vietnamese military installations by the North Vietnamese
People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...
(PAVN). The assault was intended to capture and hold the city and to gain control of the province, and along with the attempt to capture and hold the city of Huế, one province south of Quảng Trị Province, it was one of the North's primary goals in mounting its offensive. Following his service in Vietnam, Brewer spent a tour in Northern Thailand, helping the Thai government defeat a Communist insurgency, and aiding its efforts to eradicate opium production in the Golden Triangle area of
Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
(
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
),
Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
, and
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. He retired from government service in 1973.


Later life and death

In retirement, Brewer and his family moved to La Cañada, California, to enroll his son in a preparatory school run by an old friend. He taught courses at the school and worked with Explorer Scouts. After his son graduated and entered college, Brewer and his wife moved to Reno, Nevada, close to a family-owned property where he had spent enjoyable summers as a boy. On 5 December 1996, Brewer died in California of lung cancer, leaving his wife Ruth, and five children, Mary Elizabeth, Robert Burnham, Nathan Hale, Virginia Ruth, and Wheaton Hale Brewer."United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V3LW-W2K : 20 May 2014), Robert B Brewer, 05 Dec 1996; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Robert United States Army personnel of World War II Band of Brothers characters United States Army officers 1924 births 1996 deaths Military personnel from California