Roll of Honor
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Byron E. Brugge
- School: Columbia College
- Class Year: 1930
- War: World War II
- Date of Death: March 4, 1945
Byron Brugge attended Columbia College from February 1926 to January 1927. By 1930, when he was admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point, he was an Army Private serving at Mitchell Field in Long Island. He graduated from West Point in 1934, and trained as a pilot. In December 1944, he flew on a mission from Saipan, serving as a flight observer on a B-29 mission over an aircraft factory near Tokyo. His plane, the Rosalia Rocket was shot down, but he was able to parachute out of the plane. He was captured and brought to a Japanese prison. There he was interrogated for a month by the Kempetai, the Japanese Secret Police. He died on March 4, 1945, from malnutrition as well as the effect of the beatings and other torture to which he had been subjected. He left behind a wife and two small children.
Tributes
God bless Colonel Brugge. Colonrl Brugge's wife Madeline Tinker - aka "Midge" was my friend and cousin through Midge's mother, Madeline, nee Doyle, Tinker. I had met mother and daughter in the mid 1980s in Tampa, FL during my search for our common Currie ancestors of Nova Scotia, Canada and Scotland I first met Colonel Brugge's sons, David and Stephen, in Feb 200o at their grand mother's funeral in Tampa. Mrs Madeline (Doyle) Tinker-McCormick lived to the amazing age of 104. Madeline married young 3Lt. Clarence L Tinker in Honolulu, HI on 8 Oct 1913 on Waikiki, Hawaii. MGen Tinker, Commander of 7th US Army Air Corps,(Hawaiian Air Force) died on 6 June 1942, 30 miles south of Midway Island when he and the crew of their aircraft crashed in the Pacific after searching for the retreating Japanese fleet. God bless America. FX McGillivary, Major (retired) RCAF (1955-1991) dob 26 Oct 1936 Glace Bay, Novs Scotia, Canada
- Francis McGillivary
Is any of our information incorrect? You can submit corrections, additional photos, and/or tributes to uarchives@columbia.edu.