This uniform grouping
is one that I have been after since I started collecting militaria. It all
belonged to Capt Robert H B R I N E R who served as the S-1 in the Regimental
HQ, 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Division. This is the
same Regiment that my grandfather was an officer in. At no doubt the two of
them came in to contact with each other at some point stateside or overseas. I
feel truly honored to have obtained this one and was able to ID it by his name
written on the photograph that came along with it.
B R I N E R was born in Ohio in 1916. He grew up in
the Cleveland area and began attending college at Miami University in Oxford,
Ohio graduating in 1938. Although smaller in stature and size he boxed for the
college and was a member of Sigma Chi. B R I N E R volunteered for the service
enlisting on February 3, 1941. He was commissioned on May 15, 1942 and spent
his entire career with the 76th being one of the original cadre at
Ft. Meade MD after the Division’s activation. He was assigned as the 385th’s
Personnel Officer and stayed in that position until the 76th was
deactivated in the late summer of 1945. He was transferred to the 102nd
Division for occupation duties until making it back to the states in December
of that same year. Not only was he awarded the CIB but also a Bronze Star Medal
for Meritorious Service. Being a personnel officer was seldom glorious but
without him the Regiment wouldn’t have operated near as smoothly in its trail
across the ETO.
Worthy of a Hollywood love story, he met his while
the 76th was training overseas and married Peggy B O W E N of Great Britain after the war. He
and Peggy had several children and he was in the real estate business for the
rest of his days owning his own firms in several Ohio cities. B R I N E R
passed away in July of 1997.
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