BROOKLYN, NY, USA U.S. Marines LCPL, 3D BN, 8TH MAR, (GCE, SPMAGTF-AFGHANISTAN), 2D MAR DIV, CAMP LEJEUNE, NC FARAH PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN 01/24/2009
Julian (“Jules”) Thomas Brennan was born in Takoma Park, Maryland, on June 22, 1983. After completing high school in Washington D.C., he went on to graduate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan in 2005 with an associate’s degree in drama.
After the family moved to the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, in 2003, Julian would often go to the local clubs and play the open mic. He got his Screen Actors Guild card and began lining up acting gigs while working as a carpenter on Martha Stewart’s show.
Brennan also was a pretty fair athlete who finished the 2007 New York City Triathlon in 2:44:21. Julian was a diversely creative man-an actor, musician and budding writer. Friends say the handsome 25-year-old Brooklyn man with a killer smile could sing, dance, crack you up with a joke or just endear himself to you with his sometimes goofy personality.
Just about everyone who knew the aspiring actor thought he’d be a star someday.
On his MySpace page, he described himself as “a guy who will go out of his way to make someone laugh, write a great song, find a reason to dance, and watch the sun rise every chance he gets.”
He wanted a career on the stage or in movies, but not before he followed a family tradition of serving his country, so he joined the Marines.
He had always been interested in the military. His grandfather earned the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima during World War II, and he nearly enlisted after September 11, 2001.
He went to Parris Island boot camp, where he finished second out of 680 recruits. Then it was off to Afghanistan, where he served in a weapons unit. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Jejune, North Carolina.
His mother last spoke to him on Inauguration Day-he was a Barack Obama supporter-and he expressed a “deep empathy” for the Afghan people. His father called him a “happy and ethical warrior.”
Julian died January 24, 2009, while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.
Before he shipped out to Afghanistan in November, he secretly married his fiancée and was planning a celebration when he returned. The young Marine and his bride met at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan in 2004.