Ships
- USS Thorn (DD-647) Captain, 1 April 1943 – 31 May 1944
Edward Brumby was born in Sheffield, England, on 4 February 1908. He entered the United States Naval Academy as a midshipman on 13 July 1926, graduated with the class of 1930, and was commissioned an ensign on 5 June 1930. He became a lieutenant (junior grade) on 5 June 1933 and a lieutenant on 2 June 1938. In June 1942 he was advanced to the temporary rank of lieutenant commander.
On 1 April 1943, Lieutenant Commander Brumby commissioned the new Gleaves-class destroyer USS Thorn (DD-647) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and became her first commanding officer. Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company had laid the ship down at Kearny, New Jersey, on 15 November 1942 and launched her on 28 February 1943. She was the first United States ship named for Jonathan Thorn, a naval officer of the early nineteenth century. Brumby remained in command until 31 May 1944.
After shakedown and trials out of Casco Bay, Maine, Thorn joined Destroyer Squadron 19. Between 28 May 1943 and 2 January 1944 she made four round-trip convoy escorts on the route linking New York, Norfolk, and Casablanca. The first voyage was with Task Force 69, and the next three were with Task Force 64. On the last of those runs she went with Stockton to escort two oilers into Ponta Delgada in the Azores, and those ships were the first to enter the port under a new agreement between the Allies and Portugal.
On 3 January 1944, the day after Thorn reached New York, the destroyer Turner exploded and sank in Ambrose Channel about 5,000 yards astern of her. Brumby called away the motor whaleboat, and Thorn sent a rescue party into the channel. The boat crew recovered three of Turner's survivors.
Late in January 1944, Thorn sailed for the Pacific and passed through the Panama Canal on 29 January. She was ordered toward New Guinea to help relieve Destroyer Squadron 1, and with the other ships of Destroyer Division 37 she was routed by way of Guadalcanal and Rendova to escort a detached group of oilers. Brumby was still in command on 22 April 1944, when Thorn took part in the Hollandia and Aitape landings, Operations Reckless and Persecution, in company with Destroyer Squadron 19.
On 31 May 1944 he turned Thorn over to Frederick Henry Schneider, Jr. From 3 July 1944 to 31 August 1945 he served as a commander and project officer in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations for the U.S. Naval Group, China. That duty supported the group's work in the war and required steady dealings with Chinese officials in China and in the United States. He received the Legion of Merit for it. He was promoted to captain on 1 July 1949, retired from the Navy on 1 July 1960, and died in California on 19 April 1994.