T SGT US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
John E. McBrien, 88, of Portland, beloved husband of Mary (Murphy) McBrien for 56 years passed away Sunday (June 26, 2011) at Middlesex Hospital after a short illness.
He was the son of the late Robert and Mary (Flynn) McBrien, born March 19, 1923. He was educated in the Portland School System and had learned cabinet making before being employed at Robert Gair (later known as Stone Container).
Inducted at age 19 into the U.S. Army Air Corps, he trained in Florida as a flight engineer, top turret gunner on the B-17. Deployed to England, he flew 13 missions deep into Germany as part of the 388th Bomb Group against major German targets such as Hamburg and Berlin. They were heading for Magdeburg and were shot down over Kassel in May 1944 and taken prisoner. Surviving a brutal 30 or 40 day march north to Gdansk, Poland where he was interned in Stalag IV until May 1945.
After the war, he returned to Robert Gair as a Production Control Supervisor for 40 years. He was a devoted family man and spent time with his nieces and nephews and his sons, wife, and grandchildren.
He loved restoring tractors, fixing cars, gardening, and was unfaltering in his selflessness, generosity, and commitment to family as well as his sense of fairness.
Besides his wife Mary, he is survived by his sons Gary McBrien and Greg McBrien, both of Glastonbury, and Terrance McBrien and his wife Erin of Eastford; his grandchildren John, Katie, Michael, Victoria, and Liam McBrien, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers and sisters Samuel, William, Hannah Josephine, Mary, Robert, and Charles.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Church of Saint Mary in Portland.
Interment with military honors will follow in the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown.
Published in The Hartford Courant on June 29, 2011
WORLD WAR II
John E. McBrien, 88, of Portland, beloved husband of Mary (Murphy) McBrien for 56 years passed away Sunday (June 26, 2011) at Middlesex Hospital after a short illness.
He was the son of the late Robert and Mary (Flynn) McBrien, born March 19, 1923. He was educated in the Portland School System and had learned cabinet making before being employed at Robert Gair (later known as Stone Container).
Inducted at age 19 into the U.S. Army Air Corps, he trained in Florida as a flight engineer, top turret gunner on the B-17. Deployed to England, he flew 13 missions deep into Germany as part of the 388th Bomb Group against major German targets such as Hamburg and Berlin. They were heading for Magdeburg and were shot down over Kassel in May 1944 and taken prisoner. Surviving a brutal 30 or 40 day march north to Gdansk, Poland where he was interned in Stalag IV until May 1945.
After the war, he returned to Robert Gair as a Production Control Supervisor for 40 years. He was a devoted family man and spent time with his nieces and nephews and his sons, wife, and grandchildren.
He loved restoring tractors, fixing cars, gardening, and was unfaltering in his selflessness, generosity, and commitment to family as well as his sense of fairness.
Besides his wife Mary, he is survived by his sons Gary McBrien and Greg McBrien, both of Glastonbury, and Terrance McBrien and his wife Erin of Eastford; his grandchildren John, Katie, Michael, Victoria, and Liam McBrien, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers and sisters Samuel, William, Hannah Josephine, Mary, Robert, and Charles.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Church of Saint Mary in Portland.
Interment with military honors will follow in the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown.
Published in The Hartford Courant on June 29, 2011
T SGT US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
John E. McBrien, 88, of Portland, beloved husband of Mary (Murphy) McBrien for 56 years passed away Sunday (June 26, 2011) at Middlesex Hospital after a short illness.
He was the son of the late Robert and Mary (Flynn) McBrien, born March 19, 1923. He was educated in the Portland School System and had learned cabinet making before being employed at Robert Gair (later known as Stone Container).
Inducted at age 19 into the U.S. Army Air Corps, he trained in Florida as a flight engineer, top turret gunner on the B-17. Deployed to England, he flew 13 missions deep into Germany as part of the 388th Bomb Group against major German targets such as Hamburg and Berlin. They were heading for Magdeburg and were shot down over Kassel in May 1944 and taken prisoner. Surviving a brutal 30 or 40 day march north to Gdansk, Poland where he was interned in Stalag IV until May 1945.
After the war, he returned to Robert Gair as a Production Control Supervisor for 40 years. He was a devoted family man and spent time with his nieces and nephews and his sons, wife, and grandchildren.
He loved restoring tractors, fixing cars, gardening, and was unfaltering in his selflessness, generosity, and commitment to family as well as his sense of fairness.
Besides his wife Mary, he is survived by his sons Gary McBrien and Greg McBrien, both of Glastonbury, and Terrance McBrien and his wife Erin of Eastford; his grandchildren John, Katie, Michael, Victoria, and Liam McBrien, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers and sisters Samuel, William, Hannah Josephine, Mary, Robert, and Charles.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Church of Saint Mary in Portland.
Interment with military honors will follow in the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown.
Published in The Hartford Courant on June 29, 2011
WORLD WAR II
John E. McBrien, 88, of Portland, beloved husband of Mary (Murphy) McBrien for 56 years passed away Sunday (June 26, 2011) at Middlesex Hospital after a short illness.
He was the son of the late Robert and Mary (Flynn) McBrien, born March 19, 1923. He was educated in the Portland School System and had learned cabinet making before being employed at Robert Gair (later known as Stone Container).
Inducted at age 19 into the U.S. Army Air Corps, he trained in Florida as a flight engineer, top turret gunner on the B-17. Deployed to England, he flew 13 missions deep into Germany as part of the 388th Bomb Group against major German targets such as Hamburg and Berlin. They were heading for Magdeburg and were shot down over Kassel in May 1944 and taken prisoner. Surviving a brutal 30 or 40 day march north to Gdansk, Poland where he was interned in Stalag IV until May 1945.
After the war, he returned to Robert Gair as a Production Control Supervisor for 40 years. He was a devoted family man and spent time with his nieces and nephews and his sons, wife, and grandchildren.
He loved restoring tractors, fixing cars, gardening, and was unfaltering in his selflessness, generosity, and commitment to family as well as his sense of fairness.
Besides his wife Mary, he is survived by his sons Gary McBrien and Greg McBrien, both of Glastonbury, and Terrance McBrien and his wife Erin of Eastford; his grandchildren John, Katie, Michael, Victoria, and Liam McBrien, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers and sisters Samuel, William, Hannah Josephine, Mary, Robert, and Charles.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Church of Saint Mary in Portland.
Interment with military honors will follow in the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown.
Published in The Hartford Courant on June 29, 2011
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