Surnames: Brunner, Bernitt

----Source: Abbotsford Tribune (Abbotsford, Clark County, Wis.) 12/02/1943

Brunner, Lyle C. (27 June 1918 - 18 Nov. 1943)

A telegram from the War Department brought the news of the death of Cpl. Lyle C. Brunner to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bernitt on Thanksgiving day. The message stated that he had died on Nov. 18 of wounds received. Cpl. Brunner was somewhere in the Southwest Pacific when on Oct. 8 he wrote the last letter received by his mother.

Cpl. Brunner, whose life span was 25 years, was born in the town of Holton on June 27, 1918. When he was two years old the family moved to Abbotsford, Wis. He attended both grade and high school here and was a star member of the basket ball team.

He later played basket ball with the local National Guard team and with the crack Dorchester Aces, who won the right to compete at Denver, Colorado.

Following high school graduation with the class of 1936, he spent three years at Central State Teachers’ College, Stevens Point, studying to become a coach. He left school to work here at the White House milk plant and while at this job he enlisted in the Marines.

In January, 1942, he left for Camp Elliott, San Diego, where he received his early Marine training. Later he was sent to Camp Pendleton, Oregon.

When President Roosevelt visited Camp Pendleton in the fall of 1942, he was one of 50 marines chosen as a guard of honor. While in the United States he was an instructor in bayonet tactics.

After a furlough here early in December of 1942, he went back to Camp Pendelton from where he volunteered for overseas duty and left early in February. He was somewhere in the Southwest Pacific.

Besides Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bernitt, he leaves a brother, Raymond Brunner.

A memorial service will be held at a later date at the Lutheran church.

----Source: Abbotsford Tribune (Abbotsford, Clark County, Wis.) 12/16/1943

Memorial services for Cpl. Lyle Brunner, of the Marine Corps, will be held Sunday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock in Christ Evangelical Lutheran church.

Cpl. Brunner was serving in the Southwest Pacific when he died as the result of wounds, on Nov. 18.