Posted by Margie Brandt Luce on March 13, 2023:

Schuyler Buell Brandt No. 16850 Class of 1949 Died 2 May 1966 at Jess Parish Memorial Hospital, Titusville, Florida, aged 39 years. Interment: West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York WITH THE DEATH OF SCHUYLER BUELL BRANDT on 2 May 1966, our Class and our country lost one of its most dedicated supporters and scientists, while we who knew him well lost a most valuable friend. Dod Brandt was born in Evanston, Illinois on 18 June 1926. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, arriving at West Point directly from the US Navy V-12 program. He had a driving interest in everything the world had to offer and the talent to excel wherever he chose. He graduated in 1949 near the top of his Class, having divided his boundless energy between studies, sports, literature, and good fellowship. He chose a commission in the US Air Force, and, while waiting for an assignment to pilot training, completed the Air Tactical School at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and the Radiological Defense School at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. In 1951, he successfully won his pilot's wings, and after completing crew training at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, served as a combat crew member in the Korean conflict. During this period he was awarded the Air Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal. He returned to an assignment with the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing of the Strategic Air Command at Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas, serving in a variety of crew and staff positions. In 1954, he entered the University of Michigan, earning two master's degrees-in aeronautical and instrumentation--by 1956. His subsequent assignment to Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, involved him deeply in the successful testing and operational acceptance of the Bomarc and Matador missile systems. Dod resigned from the Air Force in 1960 in order to follow his consuming interest in aerospace programs. After a year at Ann Arbor, Michigan, working as a project engineer on the Advent Program for Bendix Systems Division, he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, filling various management positions including supervision of quality control, reliability, and technical support for unmanned launch operations at the John F. Kennedy Space Center. In his latter years, Dod's efforts on behalf of the community and the Air Force not only claimed much of his time but also met with lasting success. As a major in the active reserve, he continued his interest in the flying activities of the Air Force. In 1965 he was appointed commander of the Indian River Senior Civil Air Patrol Squadron and participated in all of the squadron's activities including numerous Civil Air Patrol search-and-rescue missions. It was during one of the CAP meetings that he was suddenly stricken and died. In his honor, the squadron his recently been renamed the Schuyler B. Brandt Squadron. AS a member of the board of governors of the West Point Society of Canaveral, he actively sustained close ties with the Academy. His untimely and sudden death came while he was deeply engaged on all fronts. In addition to his wife Crill, he leaves three daughters: Rita, Bonnie, and Margie, for whom, in spite of his very active life, he always made the time to be a devoted husband and father. Dod Brandt served the cause of his country where and when he could serve it best. When he left the Air Force, he continued to give the full measure of his talent and expertise to his country's efforts in space. A fellow graduate, speaking for the membership of the Canaveral Society, said of him: "Dod exemplified to the fullest the Academy's motto: Duty, Honor, Country in every facet of his full life." A memorial scholarship fund, designed to perpetuate Dod's spirit and attitudes, has been established by his friends and associates in the Civil Air Patrol and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency at Cape Kennedy. If one could total the contributions Dod Brandt made during his lifetime: to science, to his government, to the US Air Force, to West Point, to his family, and to his friends, I am sure that he put far more "in the pot" than he could ever have hoped to get back except, perhaps, for those intangible rewards that success brings to the good leader, scientist, father, and friend. For what he has left to his fellow man we should all be grateful; for what he might have continued to contribute had he lived, we can only ruefully regret.

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