Best Friends Reunited In Tragedy at Garveston.

Last week, we looked at chance meetings in war with the reunion of the Gage brothers at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal.  Today we’ll examine a similar encounter, though under the most tragic of circumstances.

Pete DeBrular and David Leibson - 1939

Brothers Pete and Tom DeBrular, orphaned at an early age, grew up and received their educations at the Indiana Masonic Home, near Indianapolis.  “Pete’s best friend at the Home was a kid named, David Leibson,” Tom shared.  “They were both athletes and real outdoorsmen.  I remember they’d get up early every morning and check their trap lines.  They earned a lot of extra money that way.

“I was always small, and this one time, another kid was picking on me.  Well, Pete was older and always kind of looked out for me.  He took care of it, but he was going to be in some pretty serious trouble.  He took off, just left, and hitchhiked all the way back to Cromwell.  Well, it was David Leibson that went in and talked to the principal, told him the whole story of why Pete did what he did.  Pete might have gotten into a little trouble, but thanks to David, it wasn’t much.  They were just real close.”

Pete DeBrular - 492nd Bomb Group

During the war, Pete was a waist gunner on a B-24 bomber and David served with a medical unit, both stationed in England.  On June 4, 1944, Pete’s bomber crashed in Garveston.  The entire crew, including Pete, was killed.

In one of those tragic coincidences, or maybe not, David was assigned to the crash site and found Pete’s remains.  With David knowing nothing of the crew going in, one can only imagine his shock in identifying Pete’s dog tags.  So sad.  David attended Pete’s funeral at Cambridge.