ROBERT M. BRINKER, LCDR, USN

Robert Brinker '34

Date of birth: September 12, 1910

Date of death: September 9, 1943

Age: 32

Lucky Bag

From the 1934 Lucky Bag:

ROBERT MARION BRINKER

Park Ridge, Illinois

"Bob" "Bunker" "Hans"

DESERTING the prairies of his native Illinois, the beckon of the nearby "I will" city and the campus of his Alma Mater at Urbana. Bob came to us late in the summer of 1930, forsaking the held of architectural engineering for the Naval Academy and the Naval Service. Dame Fortune smiled upon us.

During his stay with us, Bob has made the best of wives, especially in those dark days of Calculus, when the Math Department threatened the security and sanctity of our harem. But more than that, has he been the pal at all times.

Possessed of personality, acumen, and a keen sense of wit, Bob has done much to make our home a home. Indifferent towards the femmes, willing to help out at any task, good natured and even tempered — that is Bob.

Truthfully can it be said that Bob conforms to all the requisites of a gentleman and, what is more, to Uncle Sam's exacting pattern of the perfect officer. A brilliant future for him is our benediction. Pal — the best of luck always.

Soccer 4, 2, 1. "N." Class Swimming. Boxing 4. Company Basketball. Company Baseball. Reception Committee. Midshipman Lt. (JG)

ROBERT MARION BRINKER

Park Ridge, Illinois

"Bob" "Bunker" "Hans"

DESERTING the prairies of his native Illinois, the beckon of the nearby "I will" city and the campus of his Alma Mater at Urbana. Bob came to us late in the summer of 1930, forsaking the held of architectural engineering for the Naval Academy and the Naval Service. Dame Fortune smiled upon us.

During his stay with us, Bob has made the best of wives, especially in those dark days of Calculus, when the Math Department threatened the security and sanctity of our harem. But more than that, has he been the pal at all times.

Possessed of personality, acumen, and a keen sense of wit, Bob has done much to make our home a home. Indifferent towards the femmes, willing to help out at any task, good natured and even tempered — that is Bob.

Truthfully can it be said that Bob conforms to all the requisites of a gentleman and, what is more, to Uncle Sam's exacting pattern of the perfect officer. A brilliant future for him is our benediction. Pal — the best of luck always.

Soccer 4, 2, 1. "N." Class Swimming. Boxing 4. Company Basketball. Company Baseball. Reception Committee. Midshipman Lt. (JG)

Loss

Bob was lost when USS Grayling (SS 209) was sunk sometime between September 9-12, 1943. He was the boat's commanding officer.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert graduated from Maine Township High school in 1927. “Bob” Here’s our great future architectural engineer. When he’s famous people will say, “It’s because he ate ‘Copperats’ and threw ‘snowballs’ when he was young.” Band 3, 4 (baritone horn.)
He attended the University of Illinois for two years and was a member of the fraternity Triangle.
On March 28, 1940, Robert and his wife Margaret sailed on the S. S. President Taft from Manila to San Francisco. Their address was c/o Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut. On July 11, 1941, Margaret and daughter Lorna, age 9 months, sailed on the S. S. Mariposa from San Francisco to Honolulu.
In the fall of 1942, Robert’s submarine sank 21 Japanese ships before returning to American waters.
In July 1944, the Park Ridge group of the Women’s Defense Corps of America was named the Robert Brinker chapter.
He was survived by his wife and 3-year-old daughter Lorna. His wife, the former Margaret Lucille Stonebrook, died on April 6, 1950, in San Francisco.
His father was Marion, mother Lorna, sister Alice (Mrs. Hall Teeman,) and brother Sidney who was an Ensign in the Mediterranean area.

His wife was listed as next of kin. He is listed at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Photographs

From his high school yearbook

Career

From the now-broken link http://www.fleetorganization.com/subcommandersclassyear3.html:

Duty USS S-40 (SS-145) 1 Jul 1939 - 1 Oct 1939

Duty cfo Thresher 1 Jul 1940

Duty USS Thresher (SS-200) 1 Nov 1940

Executive Officer USS Thresher (SS-200) 30 Jun 1942 - 30 Sep 1942

Executive Officer USS Tambor (SS-198) 31 Mar 1943

Staff Submarine Division Sixty Two 1 Jul 1943

Captain USS Grayling (SS-209) Jul 1943 - Sep 1943

Lieutenant (j.g.) 31 May 1937

Lieutenant 1 Jul 1941

Lieutenant Commander (T) 1 Mar 1943

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

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.