CPL. EDWARD C. BRENNAN (A BED-STUY HERO)
Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes.
The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
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In 2014, The Brownstone Detectives partnered with the New York City Parks Department to help celebrate the lives of the servicemembers of Bedford-Stuyvesant Heights who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War.
We researched these heroes to locate pictures, stories, and their descendants to be brought together for a ceremony that dedicated a new “Victory and Peace” war memorial at Saratoga Park.
This biography tells the story of one of those servicemembers.
CPL. EDWARD CROMWELL BRENNAN
Edward Cromwell Brennan was born to Sebastian and Elsie Brennan on 19 March 1896. Edward was the elder of two boys born to the couple. His father, Sebastian, worked as a “letter carrier,” and the family lived at the time of the war at No. 117 Saratoga Avenue.
According to the draft registration card Edward completed and signed before the local draft board on 5 June 1917, he was 21 1/2 years old, a single man of medium height, slender, with brown hair and eyes.
Before signing up to serve, Edward had worked as a clerk at the Liverpool London & Globe, an insurance company located at 80 William Street in New York City.
On 28 September 1917, Edward was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private in the 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division – Company “I”. Within a few months he had graduated from boot camp and was headed to infantry training.
By 9 April 1918, Edward was overseas with his regiment. He must have been a strong personality as he made rank quickly, being promoted to lance corporal and then to corporal by 18 April.
OVER THERE
We do not know exactly how the end came for Cpl. Brennan, but according to the official history of the 307th Infantry, it was in service to his country, as on the early morning of 9 September:
“‘I’ and ‘M’ were ordered to send each a platoon across the open plateau to take position on the wooded slopes overlooking the ground north of Fond de Vas, and to be prepared to support the French left as soon as their advance should have developed and passed beyond Glennes. This order, whose execution it was, in the first instance, contemplated should take place under cover of darkness, was actually carried out between 8 and 9 A. M., and the slopes, though appearing on the map to afford probable cover, actually afforded none.
“(A)t once a battery of field artillery opened upon them with direct fire,” the history continued. “Men may speak lightly in retrospect of their dislike for “whizz-bangs,” but the point-blank fire of field-guns at a target pilloried in the open is an ordeal to wrench men’s souls-the swift rush of sound, the instantaneous crash of the explosion, and then the scream of some disemboweled comrade again and again, and nowhere on earth to turn to for help.
“The platoon of ‘I’ on the left…held on…the fire of machine-guns and rifle-grenades grew steadily in intensity upon its position, mixed with overhead bursts of H. E. and occasional long-handled hand-grenades from the scrub to the left, while an interdiction fire of artillery was laid on the plateau behind. After an hour of hopeless self-sacrifice, when their left outpost had been cut off and all either killed or captured, they too withdrew, singly, along the bottom of a little draw across the plateau, their lieutenant carried out in their rear with a bullet through both lungs.“
On that night – 9 September 1918 – Cpl. Edward Cromwell Brennan was killed in action.
BACK HOME
Word of his son’s death was delivered to Edward’s father, Sebastian, at home. It is hard to imagine the scene that played out as the telegram arrived at 117 Saratoga Avenue which began with, “We regret to inform you…”
It is certain that many tears were shed that night as a family filled with pride for their son serving on the war front suddenly turned into despair and anguish over a son they would never see alive again.
Cpl. Edward Cromwell Brennan is buried at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in Fere-en-Tardenois, France.
(To learn about the history of the “Victory & Peace” memorial, click HERE.)
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Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
