Robert Brewer (United States Army officer)
| Robert B. Brewer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 31 January 1924 |
| Died | 5 December 1996 (aged 72) |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Rank |
 Colonel |
| Unit |
 E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
|
| Battles/wars | |
| Relations |
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Robert B. Brewer (31 January 1924 – 5 December 1996) was a United States Army officer during World War II, assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Brewer was portrayed without credit to the actor in one episode of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.
Robert Burnham Brewer was born on 31 January 1924 in Fresno, California where his father worked as a broker of dried fruit in the central valley of California. His mother died when Brewer was four years old. When he was six, his father remarried and moved the family to Berkeley, California. His father was distant and his step mother was a disciplinarian who meted out harsh verbal and physical punishments to Robert and his sister Elizabeth.
In 1942, following high school ROTC training at the Harvard School in Los Angeles where also excelled at sports, Brewer received a second lieutenant's commission in the U.S. Army, and volunteered for duty with the newly forming American airborne divisions of the Army. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. Brewer was the assistant Platoon Leader of the Second Battalion's 81mm mortar platoon when he made his combat jump into Normandy on D-Day. Following the Division's return for rest and refitting in England, he was reassigned to the 1st Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion as assistant platoon leader.
Brewer was seriously wounded during Operation Market Garden while taking point with the platoon's scouts, as E Company was advancing into Eindhoven. He was a tall officer and stood out from the other men. Winters sent orders for him to pull back, but he was shot by a sniper before he heard the orders. The round hit him in the throat below the jaw line, knocking him down. Some of his men, including Walter Gordon, Roderick Strohl and Amos Taylor ran to his assistance, but concluded he was too seriously wounded to survive, and left him to be cared for by the platoon medics. He and a medic who was shot while assisting him were eventually helped by local people and evacuated to an aid station. Brewer rejoined E Company at the end of the war after he had recovered.
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