ENSIGN O’BRIEN RITES
Officer Killed in Mishap to be Buried in Arlington Today
WASHINGTON, April 4, 1954 – Ensign Bruce O’Brien, U.S.N.R., 22 years old, will be buried with military honors tomorrow in Arlington National Cemetery. He was killed last Tuesday at sea east of Norfolk, Virginia, when he was struck by a spindle from a tanker ship’s line-throwing gun.
In charge of a fueling station on the destroyer Charles S. Sperry, Ensign O’Brien was struck by the spindle as it was fired with the line by which a fuel host from the tanker would be hauled to the destroyer.
He was the son of Mrs. Lola Bokel O’Brien of this city and the late Lieutenant Colonel James A. O’Brien. Ensign O’Brien was graduated from Yale last June and was commissioned after attending Officer Candidate’s School at Newport, Rhode Island.
His mother, a bother, Terrence, and two sisters, Joan and Mrs. John Anthony Day, survive.
OBRIEN, BRUCE
ENG USNR
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/19/1931
DATE OF DEATH: 03/31/1954
BURIED AT: SECTION 7 SITE 10265
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
OBRIEN, JAMES AMBROSE
LT COL INF USA
DATE OF BIRTH: 01/04/1887
DATE OF DEATH: 12/31/1950
BURIED AT: SECTION 7 SITE 10265-A
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard