Staff Sergeant Brendle was a decorated veteran of World War II. In Korea, he was a tail gunner in a B-29A Superfortress with the 30th Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Wing and on temporary duty with the 371st Bomber Squadron, 307th Bomber Wing. On November 10, 1950, while on a bombing mission near the Yalu River, his aircraft was shot down by six MiG-15s about seven miles southwest of Kusong, North Korea. He was taken Prisoner of War and was presumed dead on November 27, 1953. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.