Obituary of Warren H. Brune

Columbia, SC-Warren Harvey Brune, M.D. (COL, US Army ret.), 91, of Columbia, died peacefully, Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at Gwinnett Medical Center, Lawrenceville, Georgia, following a brief illness. He was born August 3, 1923, in St. Louis Missouri, second son of Albert Eugene and Mamie Pearl (Niles) Brune. With many relatives of his Kausler grandparents living in North St. Louis, Missouri, he told of his very first memory of driving to North St. Louis to view the ravages of a tornado that swept through on September 27, 1927. He attended J. Gabriel Woerner Elementary School in St. Louis from kindergarten through eighth grade. He graduated from Cleveland High School in January of 1941. After graduation he worked almost two years at Ramsey Accessories Manufacturing Corporation making piston rings. When the United States entered WWII after Pearl Harbor he tried to enlist but was unable to get his parents' signed permission. When his draft status was established, he visited his local draft board and volunteered to be drafted. In his words, "Finally on Dec. the 28th 1942, I entered the Army, through the draft, at Jefferson Barracks in South St. Louis." After basic and advanced training, due to testing during training, he was sent to the University of Cincinnati to study engineering in June 1943. While there he met Ann Dilworth Scruggs, an old Georgia family, from Charleston, West Virginia who became his wife of 59 years. After further testing at the University of Cincinnati, he was transferred to the University of Mississippi for pre-med studies. The Army worked during the war to supply their future specialty needs in what was expected to be a prolonged war. Warren was then sent to Emory University Medical School where his daughter, Susan was born. After the war ended he completed his M.D. under the G.I. Bill. Warren served his internship at Charleston General Hospital in Charleston, West Virginia. His son, Mark, was born there. After completing his required active duty reserve service which included what he called his "real war" in Korea where he earned the Silver Star and was also present to participate in the retreat from the Yalu River crossing of the Chinese Army from a battlefield aid station about a mile from the front. Years later he told an interviewer at Ft. Sill, OK, the home of U.S. Army artillery, that the artillerymen were "bore sighting their 105 mm howitzers." Warren told only his family of having to stand in middle of the retreat road to stop trucks and jeeps to have them make room to transport the wounded from the aid station until all except those in the aid station ambulance were found transport. The he and his corpsman entered the ambulance with the final wounded and joined the retreat. His wife, Ann, and two children lived in Las Vegas, Nevada and Alexandria, Virginia, while he was in Korea. After his return, Warren was posted to Ft. Belvoir Hospital in Virginia, near Alexandria and assigned to the Surgical Service at his request. In 1953, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii, to a four year surgical residency at Tripler Army Hospital. His son, David, and daughter, Elizabeth were born there. His next tour of duty was three years at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st Airborne, on the hospital surgical staff where he acquired a security clearance above Top Secret, due to the work being done at the Naval Base situated in the center of the large boondocks area of the Army post. From Kentucky Warren was assigned to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research for an academic year of training in Medical Research. Thence to a three year tour at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland as chief of surgery and professional services and for another opportunity to need his security clearance. During his time stationed at Aberdeen, Warren spent a three month Temporary Duty assignment at Fort Sam Houston, Texas at the Army Medical Department School. From Aberdeen he spent four years in Germany, two years as the Chief of Professional Services and Surgical Consultant for 7th Army and then two years as the Hospital Commander at Bad Kreutznach. On return to the U.S., he was assigned as hospital commander of Reynolds Army Hospital at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where he was awarded the medal of St Barbara which is worn around the neck on a red ribbon and given a certificate of membership in The Ancient Order of St. Barbara. Warren's next assignment was his third war when he was stationed as Commander of the 68th Medical Group headquarters located in the same camp as UASRV, in Long Binh. He said of his time there, "As far as combat was concerned my sedan was fired upon once as we traveled between units." Early in December he received orders to return to CONUS to take command of the hospital at Fort Jackson, SC. In June of 1972, Moncrief Army Community Hospital was officially dedicated. General William C. Westmoreland, The Army Chief of Staff; Lt. General Jennings, The Army Surgeon General; and a host of other dignitaries were present. COL Brune was Moncrief's first Commander. He retired from the US Army after 31 years of service on March, 31,1973, with a fine retirement parade during which he was presented his third Legion of Merit. "A veteran is someone who at one point in his/her life wrote a blank check made payable to the United States of America for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'" Upon retirement from the Army he accepted an Appointment as Chief Investigator for Nursing Homes in South Carolina for the Medicaid Program which then was a part of The Department of Social Services. After four years he became Medical Director of the Medicaid Program for South Carolina for about 12 years. He served as a Volunteer Diversion Officer for the Department of Juvenile Justice for many years. In addition to his many military travels, there were many pleasure trips with his family and each of his wives encompassing 6 of the 7 continents and multiple ocean and river cruises. Surviving are his wife, Faith Goetz Stephenson; daughter, Susan Dilworth (Brune) Collins (David) of Conyers, Georgia; son, David Niles Brune (Nancy) of Snellville, Georgia; son-in-law, Gary Phillips; grandsons, Matthew Kurt Brune (Katherine) of Atlanta, Georgia, and Mark Donald Phillips of Columbia; granddaughters, Cecelia Ann (Collins) Senft (Paul) of Douglasville, Georgia; Claudia Lanier (Collins) Phillips (Matthew) of Conyers, Georgia; Kristen Lee Brune of Snellville, Georgia and Caitlyn Niles Brune of Snellville, Georgia; Step-sons Timothy Downer Smith (Carol) of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; and Michael Patrick Smith of Columbia; and a sister-in-law, Alice Needham (Scruggs) Bell of Lawrenceville, Georgia. He was predeceased by his wife, Ann Dilworth (Scruggs) Brune; a son Mark Mills Brune, and a daughter, Elizabeth Harvey (Brune) Phillips. The family will receive friends from 4:00 to 6:00 P.M., on Monday, December 8, 2014 at Thompson Funeral Home at Greenlawn Memorial Park, 845 Leesburg Road, Columbia, SC 29209. A Funeral Service is scheduled on Tuesday, December 9, 2014; 2:30 P.M. at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, 6408 Bridgewood Rd., (off Trenholm Rd.) Columbia, SC 29206, (803) 782-8080. Interment will follow, with full military honors, at Greenlawn Memorial Park Serenity Gardens, 6601 Windwan Drive, Columbia, SC 29209.