1LT Walter B. Briere
We honor and remember Lieutenant Walter Bradley Briere of Fox Battery, 81st Airborne AAA, 101st Airborne Division.
First Lieutenant (1LT) Walter Bradley Briere of Fox Battery, 81st Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion (AAA), 101st Airborne Division, was born in South Portland, Cumberland County, New Jersey, to Joseph A. and Marion A. (Linskey) Briere on March 26, 1914. He had eight brothers, Charles J., John, Donald W., Joseph A. Jr., Edward F., Raymond O., Paul V., and Peter V. Briere, and five sisters, Dorothy L., Beatrice M., Irene C., Anette M., and Marie A. Briere.
Walter’s father entered the service on January 17, 1914, and served with the HQ Co, 72nd Arty CAC, in the American Expeditionary Force in France, but the 72nd's training was not completed until after the Armistice was signed, meaning he was never in combat on the front lines.
Two of his brothers were also in the service during WWII. His brother Joseph was a Fire Control Seaman 3rd Class and had earned a Bronze Star at Okinawa. Edward was a Marine Corps veteran of WWII. After the war, he re-enlisted in the USMC and served with the Air School at Quantico.
Walter attended the public schools in South Portland, and when his parents moved to New York City, he graduated from Flushing High School. Founded in 1875, it is the oldest public school in NYC. He signed up for the draft at Queens County on October 16, 1940. Before he enlisted in the service, he worked as a salesman with the Lorentzen Hardware Corporation, a New York City-based manufacturer and supplier, notable for producing parts for Venetian blinds.
After graduating from the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Officer Candidate School at Camp Davis, North Carolina, in 1942, Walter was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and assigned to the 81st Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion.
Walter Briere landed as a second lieutenant with Fox Company, 81st AAA on Utah Beach with the assault waves of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, at H plus 15 minutes (H-hour was the beginning of the amphibious assault, at 6:30 AM local time), on D-Day, in water from 3 to 10 feet deep, under intense enemy artillery and machine gun fire. He survived the day and the other combat actions with Fox Co in Normandy and was promoted to first lieutenant on June 30th.
Lieutenant Briere would also survive the combat actions with Fox Co in the Netherlands, only to meet his fate at the third big WWII combat action of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, Belgium.
On January 3, 1945, an anti-aircraft artillery gun of his platoon jammed during a German assault. LT Briere instructed his men to retreat to a safer position while he alone worked to fix it. As enemy troops approached, he picked up a machine gun and held them off, then tried again to fix the problem. He got the artillery gun working again, and soon after was shot in the head, with the bullet piercing his helmet, killing him instantly.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
Lieutenant Walter Briere died at the age of 30 during the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium on January 3, 1945. He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Grand Failly, Section K, Row 1, Grave 3. He was reburied at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial of Hamm, Luxembourg, and rests eternally at Block C, Row 2, Grave 17.
May he rest in peace.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Walter.
Lest we forget. 🇺🇸
Sources:
Family Search
NARA
Ancestry
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