Gustav Joseph Braun was born on 15 January 1895 in Buffalo, NY.

Braun began his military career in the National Guard, which he joined in New York state in 1910. He served in the National Guard for six years, including a tour of duty on the Mexican Border in 1916. In 1917, he took the Regular Army examinations and became a provisional officer.

During World War I, Braun served overseas with three American infantry units, as well as with the British and French, and in the Army of Occupation in Germany after the Armistice. During WWI he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Second Division Citation, French Croix de Guerre, Italian Croce de Guerre and the British General Service Medal.

Distinguished Service Cross World War I:

BRAUN, GUSTAV J. Captain, U.S. Army
Home: Indianapolis, IN
47th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division, A.E.F.
Date of Action: 29-30 July 1918
General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919

Citation: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Gustav J. Braun, Captain, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Sergy, France, 29-30 July 1918. No medical officer or first-aid man being present, Captain Braun, then first lieutenant and battalion liaison officer, established a first-aid station and worked throughout the day and night dressing the wounded. On both days he repeatedly went out himself in the most intense shell fire and carried wounded men to shelter. When the water supply was exhausted, he made several trips through heavy machine-gun fire and filled canteens at water holes and a creek in front of the line.

Captain Braun's post-World War I service included eight years on the faculty at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, GA, and two and a half years in the Historical Section of the Army War College. As a Major, he spent three vears in China with the 15th Infantry and upon his return to the United States he was stationed in Kentucky at Fort Thomas and Fort Knox, and was Executive Officer of the CCC Replacement Training center at Fort Knox.

After serving on the staff at the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, KS, for three years, he took the course and then, as a Lieutenant Colonel, became professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA..

During the tense three year period preceding Pearl Harbor, Lieutenant Colonel Braun was a General Staff officer of Ninth Corps and handled augmentation of West Coast garrisons, layout and selection of sites and construction of training aids in addition to induction and training of Army National Guard units which later were sent to the Pacific.

From December l941 to February 1943, as staff officer of the Seventh Division, and later the Seventh Corps, Colonel Braun aided in putting the defense plan for California, which he helped prepare, into effect. Beginning In February 1943, Braun was successively Chief of Staff, Regimental Commander of the 133rd Infantry, and Assistant Division Commander during the thrust from the Arno River to the high hills overlooking Bologna. He remained in that post until he became Chief of Staff of the 34th Division.

Braun joined the 34th Division in July 1944 as Chief of Staff and, later, when the 133rd Regimental Commander was killed, requested permission to lead the troops in combat. Highlights of Braun’s military career with the 34th Division came on 16 November 1944, when Gen. Mark W. Clark, then Commanding General of the Fifth Army, presented him with an Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a second Distinguished Service Cross earned during furious fighting in the early phases of the Gothic Line offensive, and on 13 February 1945, when the Army Chief of Staff, General of the Army George C. Marshall, pinned the star of a Brigadier General upon him.

Distinguished Service Cross Citation (Synopsis) World War II

Colonel (Infantry) Gustav J. Braun, United States Army, was awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the 133d Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 23 September 1944. Colonel Braun's outstanding leadership, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 34th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.

General Orders: Headquarters, Fifth U.S. Army, General Orders No. 175 (1944)

By 17 March 1945, the 34th Division had fought its way up the Italian peninsula and was in the shadows of Monte Bel Monte and its well-entrenched German defenders. Elements of the 34th Division attacked the defenders, but with limited success. The arrival of deep winter led to both sides digging in to wait for spring thaws. It was during this stalemate, on 17 March 1945, when Brigadier General Braun, Assistant Division Commander of the 34th Infantry Division, was killed. He was flying in a light aircraft on a reconnaissance mission when the plane was shot down by enemy gunfire and he was reported as Missing in Action and presumed dead.

Burial

Brigadier General Gustav Joseph Braun, twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, America's second highest military award for valor, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.