First Lieutenant Brindley was serving as the radar operator of a F-94B Starfire fighter with the 68th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 6160nd Air Base Wing. On February 27, 1952, while on a combat mission, his aircraft collided with a PO-2 aircraft about two miles southwest of Yongmae, Korea. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.