MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT S. BRUA

Robert Brua was born in Altoona, Pa. in 1906. He graduated from Altoona High School, received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1927 and a doctor of medicine degree from the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo. in 1931. He served his internship at the Los Angeles County Hospital.

He entered the service as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps. From 1933 to 1941 he served as medical officer, general ward officer and orthopedic surgeon at various military stations in the United States and Canal Zone.

In 1942 he entered the School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, Texas, and graduated as an aviation medical examiner. He subsequently became a flight surgeon. In July 1942, Major Brua was assigned as base surgeon, Tyndall Field, Fla.

In 1943 he was assigned to the Air Transport Command and later attended Command and Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He was then assigned as surgeon of the Alaskan Division, Air Transport Command at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. During this tour he was promoted to colonel. From November 1944 to February 1946 he served as division surgeon with the Pacific Division, Air Transport Command, at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

Returning to the U.S., Colonel Brua was assigned to Percy Jones Army Hospital, Battle Creek, Mich. In June 1946 he was transferred to the Army-Navy General Hospital, Hot Springs, Ark., as chief of orthopedic surgery.

In December 1943 he was appointed a fellow in the American College of Surgeons, was certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery in January 1951, and became a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in 1952.

In 1948 Colonel Brua became a resident orthopedic surgeon at Carrie Tingley Crippled Children's Hospital at Hot Springs, N.M. Following that, he served as chief of surgery, Rodriquez General Hospital, Puerto Rico.

He returned to the United States in September 1951 and was assigned to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, as wing surgeon and hospital commander. In July 1955 Colonel Brua was appointed command surgeon, Western Air Defense Force, Hamilton Air Force Base, Calif. Two years later he joined the Medical Services Inspection Division of the 1002nd Inspector General Group at Norton Air Force Base, Calif., as assistant chief and later as chief.

General Brua was assigned duties as command surgeon, Military Air Transport Service, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., in February 1960. He held this position until his assignment to Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, as command surgeon in July 1961. He was promoted to the rank of major general Feb. 28, 1963.


(Current as of November 1964)