T/Sgt. Joseph Edward Brunson was born on September 15, 1921, in Atwood, Illinois, to Harry Brunson and Elizabeth Marie Ashurst-Brunson and had two sisters and a brother. Sometime in the 1930s, his family moved to Forest Park, Illinois. He attended Proviso Township High School for three years before the family moved to 3208 Maple Avenue, Brookfield, Illinois, in 1939. There is conflicting information at this point, his family stated that he graduated from Riverside-Brookfield High School and went to LaGrange Jr. College, but on his Army records show that he left school after his third year of high school. After leaving school, he worked for the Continental Can Company in Chicago. He registered with Selective Service on February 16, 1942, and named his mother as his contact person.
Joseph was drafted into the US Army on October 15, 1942, and did his basic training at Camp Grant, Illinois. He also trained at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, and some point he was assigned to the Army Air Corps and trained at Hill Army Airfield, near Ogden, Utah. While he was there, he met Margaret L. Thorsted whom he married on February 27, 1944. She made her home at 1136 Twenty-Second Street in Ogden. His unit was sent to the Syracuse Army Airfield, Syracuse, New York, on May 1, 1944. They were then sent to Baer Airfield, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Then they were deployed overseas.
Overseas, his unit first was stationed at Finschhafen, New Guinea in November 1944. They were sent to Biak Island in January 1945. What is known is that on January 29, 1945, the plane he was taking off from at Tacloban Air Strip, Leyte, Philippine Islands when it crashed. It appears that Joseph and everyone else on the plane were killed. Records show that he had died from second degree burns, and that he was buried in the United States Armed Forces Cemetery, Tacloban #2, Leyte, in Grave 333. At some point, he was disinterred and moved to the USAF Cemetery, Leyte #1 in Grave 1242 because the military was consolidating grave sites.
At some point Margaret Brunson remarried, but before the military became aware of this, she indicated she wanted Joseph’s remains to be returned to the United States and buried in Utah. His father learned of this and sent a letter to the Office of the Quartermaster General stating that he was the legal next of kin because Margaret had remarried. He sent a copy of her marriage certificate to the OQMG and the Quartermaster Corps accepted it as proof she was remarried. His father was now Joseph’s legal next of kin.
In a letter dated September 29, 1948, his father was provided information on the options open to him for Joseph’s final burial. He was asked to fill-out and return a form indicating where he wanted his son buried. He returned the form to the OQMG and indicated that he wanted his son returned to the United States for burial in Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois. On March 14, 1949, a Joseph’s casket was placed on the USAT Sgt. Jack Pendleton. The ship sailed the same day and arrived at Fort Mason, in the San Francisco Port of Entry, on April 2nd. From the docks, his casket was sent, by train, to the QMC’s Distribution Center #8 in Chicago.
In a telegram the Superintendent of Rock Island National Cemetery was informed that Joseph’s casket, with a military escort, would arrive in Rock Island at approximately 5:25 am on May 13, 1949, on Train #9, of the Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. That same day Tec Sgt Joseph E. Brunson was buried at the Rock Island National Cemetery, in Section E, Site 52., Rock Island, Illinois.
