Obituary – Brian E. McCombs
Brian E. McCombs, 57, died unexpectedly at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan, on July 6, 2025. He was serving as Special Agent in Charge for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 624, at Kadena Air Base, where he’d been stationed for almost two years.
Born June 8, 1968, in Clinton County, Brian was the son of Cheryl McCombs, currently of Howard, and the late Melvin McCombs. Like his father before him, he joined the Armed Forces, graduating from the United States Air Force Academy in 1990, and was recruited by OSI at Vandenberg AFB in 1994. He eventually retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel after 20 years of service before being rehired by OSI as a civilian.
For more than 30 years, he was stationed and deployed to various locations where he carried out and oversaw criminal investigations, as well as counterintelligence and counterterrorism operations. His most notable assignments included being a Special Agent in Charge in Baghdad, Iraq, in the mid-2000s, and the Special Agent in Charge at RAF Mildenhall in England during the chaos immediately following Sept. 11, 2001.
During the course of that time, he earned two master’s degrees, one in economic crime from George Washington University and one in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. He held black belts in various martial arts, such as Bujinkan ninjitsu and judo, some of which he earned from instructors in Japan. He was also certified as a Krav Maga instructor.
He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Vanessa McCombs. They were married in Columbus, Miss., on June 6, 1992, which he loved telling people was D-Day, and he proposed to her “without a ring” on Halloween, 1991.
Brian is also survived by a brother, niece and nephew.
A funeral service will be held on Monday, July 21, 2025 at 12 Noon at Donald G. Walker Funeral Home, Inc., 231 High St., Flemington, PA 17745 with Rev. Alan Eckenroad officiating. Military Honors will follow.
Friends and family will be received at the funeral home on Monday from 11 AM until the time of the service.
Online condolences may be given by visiting www.donaldwalkerfuneralhome.com
