1st Sgt. Henry Heine Brennecke (ASN 20837900) was born on May 24, 1921 in St. Anthony, Fremont, Idaho. His father, Jonathan H. “Jack” Brennecke, was born in Iowa and raised in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Idaho. His mother, Mollie Bastron, was born in Volgograd, Russia and immigrated with her parents to Colorado in 1907. Henry’s father worked as a farmer, rancher, fireman, and in later life he worked for the railroad until he retired. Henry was the oldest of his parent’s four children. He had two younger sisters and a younger brother.
Henry was a baby when his family moved from Idaho to Montrose in Montrose County on the western slope of Colorado. He attended schools in Montrose and graduated from Montrose High School in 1940 where he played on the school’s football team. When he was 17, Henry enlisted in Company D of the Colorado National Guard. He was called into active duty with the Guard in September 1940 shortly after his graduation.
On May 16, 1941, all people in service with the Colorado National Guard were called into service with the US Army. The Guard became Company D in the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division (ID). In August 1941, the 45th ID took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers. Throughout 1942 the Division continued training at Camp Barkeley, Texas, before moving to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, to undergo amphibious assault training in preparation for an invasion of Italy. In January 1943, the 45th ID moved to Fort Pickett, Virginia for its final stateside training. On June 8, 1943, the 45th ID sailed for North Africa to prepare for the invasion of Sicily.
The 45th Division, as part of Patton’s Seventh Army, had a lead role in the amphibious assault on Sicily, coming ashore near Scoglitti in southernmost Sicily on July 10, 1943. The 45th ID had reached Messina and was withdrawn from the front line to prepare for the invasion of mainland Italy.
On September 10, 1943, the 157th Infantry Regiment landed at Paestum, Italy. The Regiment had fought to get off the beachhead for over a week before the Germans began to withdraw into the mountains. Once off the beachhead, the 157th IR had to battle the Germans, the mountains, and the cold in their drive northward to reach the Gustav Line, the backbone of the Winter Line defenses. By December 1943, the fighting had stalled near the Gustav Line, and on January 9, 1944, the Regiment was relieved from the front line after 72 days of continuous combat. The 157th IR was moved to Naples to prepare for the planned assault further up the Italian coast—Anzio.
On January 22, 1944 the first troops landed at Anzio relatively unopposed, with the 157th IR landing days later. The initial landing was a surprise, but by early February, the Germans had over 100,000 troops in the hills surrounding the beachhead. The Allied invasion was trapped and stalled. On the night of February 7, the 3rd Battalion of the 157th IR, along with a British Regiment, launched an attack against the Germans to breakout of the Anzio beachhead. The attack met a barrage of enemy artillery and the rest of the 157th joined the attack. The non-stop fighting lasted until February 23, but ultimately the breakout failed with the 157th IR suffering very high casualties. The next breakout attempt began on May 23, 1945 at 05:45hrs with massive airborne artillery and groups of fighter planes that bombed and strafed German positions. The infantry jumped off at 06:30hrs. In addition to enemy artillery, riflemen, and machine gun crews, the 157th IR had to cross through heavily sewn minefields that had not yet been cleared. That morning, 1st Sgt. Henry H. Brennecke was critically wounded by an exploding mine. Attempts were made to save him, but by the end of the day, he had died from his wounds. For his leadership, he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.
In 1949, the remains of 1st Sgt. Henry Heine Brennecke were repatriated from Italy to Colorado. On March 15, 1949 he was laid to rest at the Cedar Creek Cemetery in Montrose, Montrose, Colorado. He was survived by his parents and his three siblings. His brother, Fritz, was a SSgt. In the Army Air Corps during WWII.