Commander Rufus Timothy Brinn

Brinn earned the Silver Star Medal; the Navy Commendation Medal, with Combat "V"; the American Defense Service Medal; American Area Campaign Medal; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; National Defense Service Medal, and the Russian Order of the Red Star.

Rufus Timothy Brinn was the final commanding officer of the U.S.S. Tarawa (CVS-40). He came aboard in April 1959 as Executive Officer and assumed command on January 22, 1960, at the Navy Base, Philadelphia. He never took her to sea, but supervised the deactivation and decommissioning of the ship, her preparations for mothballing with the Reserve Fleet, Atlantic.

Brinn was born January 30, 1919, at Hertford, North Carolina, the son of Robert T. and Harriett V. Chappell Brinn. He attended the Marion Military Institute, graduated from Duke University with a Batchelor of Arts Degree and attended McGill University.

On November 21, 1940, he entered the Navy, first serving for a month of seaman training aboard the U.S.S. Vincennes. By February 1941 he was enrolled in the V-7 Midshipman School at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated, commissioned an Ensign May 15, 1941.

A month later he was named Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Nawat, a harbor tug, an assignment he held until September 1941 when he became the Commanding Officer of Armed Guard Gun Crew #1E on convoy duty. He was awarded the Russian Red Star Medal for service on the convoy runs to Murmansk, Soviet Union, until January 1943.

He was then assigned for three months to the U.S.S. Miami, a sub-chaser. In March 1943 he joined the U.S.S. Hopping, a destroyer-escort, and served as her Executive Officer until March 1944.

That same month he was called to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, for a year of flight training. He was awarded his wings in May 1945. For the next six months he flew with Fighter Squadron 97; in December 1945 he began flying with Fighter Squadron 98, an outfit he stayed with until February 1946.

In that month he became Assistant Operations Officer for "Crossroads", code name for the atomic bomb testing on naval vessels at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific; that exercise ended in July. He then reported for duty as Officer in Charge at the Naval Air Station, Edenton, North Carolina, an assignment that lasted until February 1947 when he became the Executive Officer and Operations Officer at the Naval Air Facility at Weeksville, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, until July 1949.

The same month he joined Fighter Squadron 12 as Executive Officer, a job he held until a year later, July 1950. He then was assigned as Operations Officer on the Staff of Air Group 6 until September 1950 when he was transferred for a month to Fleet Air Service Squadrons as Operations and Administrative Officer.

In November 1950 he reported to the Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas, for two months of instruction, followed in February 1951 by 10 months as a student at the Armed Forces School at Monterey, California. From January 1952 to December 1953 he was an intelligence officer assigned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

He was then sent into Lighter-Than-Air flight training which he completed in March 1954. This new talent led him in April 1954 to Fleet Anti-submarine Warfare Wing 1 until September when he joined Airship Squadron 2 as Executive Officer; he was Commanding Officer of that unit from December 1955 to May 1957.

He reported then for temporary duty as Operations Officer at the Naval Air Station, Glynco, Brunswick, Georgia, until July 1957 when he was ordered to the Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, Washington, D.C., an assignment that lasted until March 1959. After two months as a student at the Damage Control Training Center, Naval Base, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he reported to the Tarawa in April 1959 as Executive Officer. He became Commanding Officer on 22 January 1960 and oversaw the ship's removal from the active fleet into mothballs, at Philadelphia.

Upon the Tarawa's inactivation and decommissioning on 13 May 1960 Brinn became the Navy member of the U.S. Joint Planning Team "B"- NATO, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.

This led in February 1962 to study at the NATO Defense College, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe, Paris, France. In June of the same year he became the Assistant Standing Group Representative, NATO, for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Paris, until September 1964. At that time he joined the Staff, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington D.C., until 28 February 1965, when he was released from active duty under honorable conditions. He was placed on the Retired List of the U.S. Navy on March 1, 1965.

On July 1, 1960, Brinn was promoted to Captain for temporary service and on June 1, 1962, was given his four stripes to rank from the date of his temporary promotion.

Brinn was married to the former Mary Alice Cohoon of Columbia, North Carolina. They had five children: Harriet L., Rufus T. Junior, Claudius R., Beverly A. and Mary M.

Captain Brinn died unexpectedly 30 September 1984 at Bremerhaven, Germany, while on a 35^th wedding anniversary trip through Europe. He was returned to his home at Hertford, North Carolina, for burial.

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