John Herman Bruins – Second Lieutenant, United States Army

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Born on May 5, 1896, he received his A.B. degree from Hamilton College in 1919. He married Dorothy Irene Dangremond, August 14, 1926. He worked as a financial credit investigator from 1919-23 and entered the State Department Foreign Service in 1923.

He served as Vice Consul, Riga, latvia, 1924-26; Singapore, 1926-29; Consul at Southhampton, 1929-31; Hamburg, 1931-33; Danzig, 1934; Prague, 1935-39; Hong Kong, 1939-41. Duty at the State Department, 1942-44. First Secretary in the United States Embassy, new government of Czechoslovakia in London, 1944-45; Counsellor, U.S. Embassy, Prague, 1946-48; Counsellor in U.S. Embassy, London, 1949-50. Served also in the U.S. Legation in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1951-52. Served as Second Lieutenant, United States Army Intelligence in World War I, 1918-19. Life fellow, American Geographic Society and a member of Lambda Chi Alpha.

He died on December 26, 1954 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

JOHN H. BRUINS,58, U.S. FOREIGN AIDE
Diplomat, most Recently In Lebanon Post, Is Dead – Had Served In Prague, London

WASHINGTON, December 26, 1954 – John H. Bruins, a Foreign Service Officer for more than thirty years, died yesterday at the Naval Medical Center at near-by Bethesda, Maryland.  He was 58 years old.

Mr. Bruins had returned to this country this summer from his post as counselor of the American Embassy in Lebanon for emergency treatment.  A Class I officer, Mr. Bruins was considered by many of his associates as a man who ranked among the best in the Foreign Service.

Mr. Bruins was counselor at the Embassy in Prague, Czechoslovakia, at the time of the German invasion of that country.  Later, at Hong Kong, he aided in protecting American lives and property during the armed invasion by the Japanese.

He gained a reputation as one who could handle difficult overseas assignments ably and, after two years of duty here, from 1942 to 1844, as Foreign Service personnel officer, he was sent to the Embassy in London to handle United States relations with the Czech Government-in-Exile.  He returned to Prague as counselor in 1945.

His knowledge of affairs behind the Iron Curtain led to his assignment in 1948 to the National War College here.  A year later, however, Mr. Bruins returned to the Embassy in London as First Secretary and later as its counselor.

In November 1950, he went to his most recent post as counselor at Beirut, Lebanon.

The post of Ambassador to Czechoslovakia was offered to Mr. Bruins in 1952, but he felt that the Near East crisis dictated that he remain in that area.

He was born in Coopersville, Michigan on May 5, 1896.  He received an A.B. degree from Hamilton College.  In World War I, Mr Bruins served as a Second Lieutenant in Army Intelligence.  After the war, he was a financial and credit investigator until 1923, when he was appointed to the Foreign Service.

He serves as Riga, Latvia; Singapore, Southampton, England; Hamburg, Germany, and in Danzig, until his Prague assignment in 1934.

Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Dorothy Dangremond Bruins whom he married in 1926, and two sons, William H. Bruins of Washington and Barton Bruins.

BRUINS, JOHN HERMAN
2LT United States Army
DATE OF BIRTH: 05/05/1896
DATE OF DEATH: 12/25/1954
BURIED AT: SECTION 33  SITE 7757
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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