Captain Brenneman was the pilot of a F4U-4 Corsair fighter with the Marine Fighter Squadron 312, Marine Air Group 12 aboard the carrier USS BATAAN (CVL-29). On May 28, 1951, while on an armed reconnaissance mission one mile east of Anak, North Korea, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire, crashed and exploded. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.