Brandenburg, Paul F., Lieutenant Colonel
Person
Our dad’s father, Frank Ludwig Brandenburg, was born in 1866 in Treblin, Germany, the area of Pomerania on the Baltic Sea, which is now in Poland. His mother, Emma Marie Schluessler, was born1874 in Eisenburg Germany near the Thuringin forest. They were married in Indiana in 1902 I believe, and they had nine children, four boys and five girls, born from 1903 to 1921. The family operated a truck farm with nine greenhouses at 1514 Main Street in Vincennes, Indiana. The family spoke German at home, and German was also spoken at their Lutheran church and school. The kids learned English as a second language in school in the only class conducted in English.
Our father, Paul Frank, their fourth child, was born on July 3, 1907. He did not finish high school, working on the family farm instead. He was always interested in science and technology. Paul attended Coyne Electric School in Chicago, working on the docks in the morning before going to class.
Early Marine Service
With jobs short during the depression, Paul joined the Marine Corps on May 18, 1931, going through basic training at Parris Island. He considered the Army, but some of his friends had joined and had gotten sent to Kentucky. Paul decided he wanted to see a little bit more of the world, and he sure did!
Paul was trained in communications. When Paul’s first term was ending, the Marines promised him a tour in China if he re-enlisted. He was in Shanghai from February 1933 to December 15, 1935. He said the duty was light, and he took up body-building at Stembera Institute of Physical Culture, being featured on an ad for the institute.
In the next few years, he was stationed at Quantico, San Diego, and New York, sometimes serving as an instructor.
World War II
Paul was at home in Vincennes on leave when Pearl Harbor was bombed, and just waited for the phone call to return to duty, which he knew would come. He received a temporary promotion to officer status during the war and was stationed on Guadalcanal as a communications officer. For his outstanding ingenuity and performance of his duties there under heavy fire and bombing, he received a letter of commendation from Admiral William H. Halsey. He also served on New Georgia Island.
After the war, Paul graduated from a Marine Corps communications school in 1945. Paula’s son, Joseph Cardoza (Paul’s grandson), graduated from that same school 70 years later in 2015 as a Marine reserve officer. Joseph found a picture of Paul with his class on the wall of the school.
Service at White Sands Proving Ground
Paul was then stationed at White Sands Proving Ground (now White Sands Missile Range) in New Mexico—probably the highlight of his career. Paul worked on rockets, including the Viking, the Aerobee, and the V-2, with Werner van Braun. Paul was in charge of the rockets’ communications/telemetry systems.
Some rockets were not entirely successful. Some never made it off the pad. One went off course but the powers that be waited too long to order it destroyed and it landed in Mexico. After some negotiations, the rocket was returned, but the farmer whose land it crashed on put up a fence and charged people to see the crater. Paul joking called it the last shot in the Mexican-American war.
One of Paul’s favorite stories was the time that a V2 came down within a mile or so of the radio and telemetry station where his team of Marines maintained contact with the rocket. Standing orders were that only the recovery team could approach the landing site. Well, Marines being Marines decide not to pass up the opportunity to see the landing crater first. Off they went in a couple of Jeeps and upon arriving decided to climb down into the impact crater and place a sign “Kilroy was Here” at the bottom; quicky returning to their station. As you might imagine this caused the recovery team to quickly visit the Marines to identify the responsible individuals. All Marines were seriously engaged in the end of flight activities; giving a response, “What sign?”
Paul also commented that he worked with Clyde Tombaugh, who On Feb. 18, 1930 discovered Pluto.
Paul was very interested in photography while at White Sands and took lots of 8 mm movies of the rockets. He had a 16 mm movie camera, a 35 mm still camera, a movie projector for each size movie, and darkroom equipment, some of which he built himself. Paul had one large picture that was a composite of several smaller pictures taken from a V-2 showing the curvature of the earth, which was quite an accomplishment back then.
Paul and Virginia
It was while Paul was stationed at White Sands that he met Virginia Rose Mall, who was from St. Louis. Virginia had a difficult life, having lost her mother when she was 14 and her father when she was 18. She was living in an aunt’s tiny three-room house (plus bath) with her brother and working as a secretary at an organ company.
Paul had a number of relatives in St. Louis, including a sister, Frieda. Frieda’s husband, Ralph Wilson, was a union organizer trying to unionize the place where Virginia worked. He introduced Paul and Virginia, and they began dating and eventually became engaged.
During their courtship, Paul sent Virginia a photo of him at this duty station. He wrote a note on the back describing the equipment in the photo and what it did. He concluded, “Come on out and I’ll give you a ride in a rocket. It’s a one-way trip, want it?” This photo was still in her wallet when she died in 2004.
Paul and Virginia were married in St. Louis on October 15, 1949, when he was 42 and she was 24.
When Virginia moved down to White Sands, she received a chilly reception. She later learned that several times when Paul took leave to visits St. Louis, he told people he was going to get married, and when he came back, he would report that he had been stood up. This was just a joke, but Paul didn’t tell anyone, and when he did marry Virginia and they moved to While Sands, everyone thought that this was the terrible woman that kept standing up Paul. I think he finally straightened out the misunderstanding after Virginia read him the riot act.
They lived at 3732 Ct 1 in White Sands Proving Ground. NM. The house was very hard to keep clean because fine dirt and sand kept blowing in. Virginia led a Brownie troop there.
Not long after moving to White Sands, Virginia attended her first Marine Corps ball, dressed in a beautiful gown she had made, next to Paul in his Marine Corps dress whites. She would make several more gowns for subsequent balls.
Paul and Virginia went on leave and vacationed at Chihuahua City, Mexico. While there they had their photo taken in a local restraint. This photo sits on the desks of Paula and Rob as a reminder of their Mom and Dad at perhaps one of the happiest times in their lives. From a brief news posting in the Wind and Sand of Thursday, June 22, 1950: ”Captain Brandenburg says that he had a most enjoyable trip, but he still believes the best slogan is ‘See America First.’”
Service after While Sands
After White Sands, Paul was stationed in Maryland for training (Naval Ordnance Development Unit, Applied Physics Lab, John Hopkins University). They lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. Paula was born on September 3, 1951--Labor Day—at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda. Three months later, Paul was sent to South Bend, Indiana for six months of training in guided missiles at the Bendix Aviation Corporation.
Paul was then transferred to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. No sooner had Paul gotten to Camp Lejeune when he was shipped off to Cuba for some training exercises. Virginia wrote dutifully every day, but the letters were diverted to Paul's desk on base, maybe for security reasons. Paul had no idea this was happening, and would write letters asking Virginia to write, even though he said he knew she must be busy with the baby and getting settled. Virginia had no idea what was going on. When they discovered what had happened after Paul returned, they were both angry at whoever allowed it to happen.
The family first lived in a small house off-base in Jacksonville, NC, later moving to a house at Paradise Point, which was a huge white two-story house with a big yard.
Virginia made a delightful “Little Corporal” uniform for Paula based on a uniform worn by women Marines, which has been donated to a museum near Camp Lejeune.
In December 1954, the family moved near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Paul worked with electronics inventory at a depot. We lived in a new brick row house in Glenolden. Shortly after moving in, Paul and Virginia’s son, Paul Robert (called Rob) was born on January 18, 1955.
Paul was transferred to Point Mugu Naval Base, near Oxnard, California, in 1957. The family lived first in a small house in Oxnard. When new housing was built on base, we moved to 1018 Oriole Drive. Virginia again led a Brownie troop, this time with Paula as one of the Brownies. Not to be outdone by his Little Corporal sister, Rob proudly wore a Little Master Sergeant uniform.
Paul was the second highest ranking officer of the Marine Aviation Detachment (“MAD”). Paul was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on July 1, 1959, and retired in 1961, after 30 years of service.
Life after Retirement
After Paul’s retirement, the family moved LaMesa, California, and Paul attended college at San Diego State for a year. The next year the family moved to Vincennes, Indiana, to be near Paul’s relatives. After a year in town, the family moved to a 100-acre farm near Wheatland, Indiana. One of the first things Paul did was to build a darkroom in the basement. For years the family had a large strawberry patch, which helped put us kids through college. Both Paul and Virginia were active in St. John Lutheran Church in Vincennes, the church of Paul’s childhood.
Paula joined the Air Force in 1974, and after getting out in 1978, she used her VA benefits to attend the Indiana University Mauer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana. She graduated in 1982 and retired in 2016 after a career spend mostly assisting federal courts and the Indiana Supreme Court.
Rob was in Army ROTC at Rose Hulman University near Terre Haute Indiana, graduating in 1977, where he majored in electrical engineering and computer technology. He retired from Eli Lilly and Company in 2010.
When Paula was home on leave in 1975, Virginia suggested we all pose for photos in our uniforms. With the silver oak leaves on Paul’s shoulders and a chest full of medals, it was clear who out-ranked who!
Paul and Virginia lived on the farm until Paul died on February 19, 1991. Paul was buried in his Marine Corps dress uniform with military honors. He lived long enough to see his first grandson, Joseph Cardoza, who was born on January 20, 1988. Paul was never happier in his later years than he was with Joseph. His second grandson, Nathan Cardoza, was born on February 18, 1993.
After Paul died, Virginia sold the farm and moved to a condo in Vincennes, Indiana, where she was active in many volunteer activities. She died on January 15, 2004.
Paul and Virginia would be so proud of their two grandsons, who have grown to be fine young men. Joseph graduated from Purdue University in 2011, served as a Marine reserve officer, and is now a high school science teacher, married to a middle school science teacher. (He has a You Tube channel on science called Cardoza Queries.) Nathan completed an associates degree in machine tool technology and is a machinist.
Paul’s family is proud of the legacy he left to his family, his community, his country, and the Corps!