The story of Henrik Brun from Uvdal in Norway who invented the first mesh shirt in history

This is the story of Henrik Natvig Brun from Uvdal in Norway. Although Brun invented history's very first mesh shirt, he was never known for his invention. But the Brynje shirt was an export success from Uvdal. The mesh shirt has been involved in many tough expeditions; on foot, on ski and bike. It has been on Mt. Everest, the North Pole and the South Pole. Captain Brun was a capable fellow and his "health shirt" made Brynje of Norway what we are. For this we owe him honor and great thanks.

This text is a direct reproduction of an article in the newspaper Hallingdølen from 2018.

Text: Ina Eirin Eliassen - Photo: Private and facsimiles.

HE INVENTED THE HEALTH SHIRT

After this article, you will send a thought or two to the Øvre Numedal valley in Norway every time you put on your Brynje mesh shirt.

We have to go back to the interwar period to understand how the revolutionary underwear invention came about. It happened on the farm Lunda in Uvdal, and the originator was farmer and officer Henrik Natvig Brun. That Brun ended up on the wrong side during the war is enough to explain why he never received credit for his invention. Because in his old days, Brun lived a secluded life as a sheep farmer. But it is certain that the garment, which was developed with military use in mind, would become a rare Norwegian export item. Here you get the whole story about the man from Uvdal who was a pioneer in mountain and winter equipment and who struggled to equip the Norwegian Armed Forces and Norwegians who enjoyed outdoor activities.

So who was he?

Henrik Natvig Brun was born in Oslo in 1897. His father Johan was a dentist and in 1912 bought the Lunda farm in Uvdal to become a mountain farmer. Henrik received a military education, both at the commander's school and later at the war school. In the meantime, he had been to Lunda a lot and had been colored by his father's national romantic ideas. Finally, Henrik escaped from the war school to fulfill his Lunda dream. And although his father tried to get him to return to school, the son never took his final exam after three years of officer training.

The First World War and the subsequent stock market crash turned things upside down in Norway as well. The world economy lay like a heavy hand over everything. Socialism and communism demanded solutions. Many were also skeptical. No one dares to invest. People were insecure and felt that something would come. In the meantime, people tried to live as best they could.

When the money ran out, the father returned to the dental profession. In 1921, aged 24, Henrik bought and took over the farm from his father. He paid NOK 12,000. In the same year, he married Brita. At Lunda, Henrik had time to think while he cultivated the farm by hand. He had strong military interests and many ideas and thoughts about equipping the Norwegian Defense Forces in a better way. The result was several types of inventions of equipment for harsh and demanding climates.

A shirt that could insulate and ventilate at the same time

One of the inventions Henrik spent time on was a new type of underwear. He called the invention "Brynje" - a mesh/string vest that resembled the historic Viking armour. The idea was to create a large and coherent layer of air between the garment and the upper body. The air layer was to both insulate and ventilate. The Brynje shirt was incorporated into a whole concept for how to dress in the cold.

"We imagine a soldier in battle, marching so hard that the sweat is dripping, even though he has taken off one garment after another. Afterwards, he may have to do sedentary guard duty, lying still in a shooting or standby position. He will then very soon begin to freeze in severe cold, and then his fighting power is quite significantly reduced. A frozen soldier can march, work, and suffer; but for fighting and shooting he is of very little use. The will to win can withstand a little frost. This is a truth that you have to keep in mind during the winter," writes Brun.

He therefore suggested: "On the inside of the body, a very coarse shirt of coarse, stiff fishing line knitted on knitting needles with a cross-section of 8-10 mm. On the outside, you have wool underwear and thick wool sweaters as needed."

"I myself wear it close to my body day and night and it has become an irreplaceable garment for me. It also contributes to better hygiene."

Gradually, fishing line was replaced with hard-twisted cotton yarn. Although Brun thought wool was good, the cotton yarn straightened when it got wet. Lumberjacks tested the garments, writes Lauritzen and Frøstrup in the book "Fjellpionerer" / "Mountain pioneers". Brun paid women in the village to knit the sweaters. The masks were rough. In this sense, they were quick to make, the family says. According to Ulateig, Brun himself must have knitted over a thousand Brynje-shirts. He also made underpants in the same material.

BACK IN FEBRUARY 1928, Aftenposten wrote about the coarse cotton mesh shirt that was supposed to keep Norwegian combat forces warm and ready for battle. By then, it had been several years since Brun, as first lieutenant, tried out the shirt during exercises with the Infantry's winter school. The response was good. The jersey had "certainly provided salvation from many colds". All then it was clear that the shirt was just as suitable for military as civilian use.

The year before, in 1927, Brun also received a letter from the 5th Division's Infantry NCO School in Trondheim, thanking him for "an extremely interesting experiment with the tent house". The sender of the letter was going to try out the shirt again on a daily basis in combination with other wool garments. He just had to get his wife to adjust the shirts a little under the arms so they wouldn't chafe, like the first editions did.

Development of winter equipment for His Majesty the King's Guard and testing of the Brynje shirt at the Infantry's Winter School, the War School and the Commander's School

THROUGH THREE WINTERS (1930-32) Brun was engaged by His Majesty the King's Guard (HMKG) to work with winter equipment according to his own principles and ideas. Brun wrote in 1932 that he was in Oslo to prepare for the winter attempt. Guardsmen served under him to work on everything from uniform details such as gloves and footwear to other equipment such as snow shovels, ski bindings, axes, shovels, field bottles, provisions, ski sleds, tents and cookware. Brun first tried out the inventions on himself, then the soldiers. He dreamed of an infantry at great speed, with high combat power and high fighting ability, writes Brun.

According to the book about Lunda, written by Brun's descendants, Brun carried out several test trips starting from the camp at Elverum in Norway. He tested quipment on trips through Østerdalen, Rondane and Jotunheimen. Most of the time they slept outside in tents. Brun's experience was that if the soldiers entered warm huts, they got sick sooner.

One of the test trips described by Brun: From February 11th to March 10th 1931, Brun set out on test trip number two for His Majesty the King's Guard. The first part of the trip went from Terningmoen to Sel station (around 220 km). Six out of nine days they had storms. Brun writes that he had never made his way through such large amounts of fresh snow before, with such bad skis. Each of the soldiers dragged or carried around 50 kilograms each. At the end of each part of the trip, food and spare parts were laid out.

Part two went from Sel to Haugastøl (around 250 km) with storm and poor visibility. Brun also complains about the mapping between Hemsedal and Haugastøl. The third part went from Haugastøl to Uvdal (around 80 km). When they got up to Hardangervidda, the wetaher cleared up. The temperature dropped to minus 20 degrees Celcius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). The weather was good the rest of the way home to Numedal and the party took three days rest in Uvdal.

The last part went to Bleiken station where they took the railway to Gjøvik, boat to Hamar and railway to Elverum. This is how Brun sums up 800 km and 22 days of marching with bad weather and lousy skiing conditions: "After the trip, the men were healthy, strong and far from exhausted. The reason is primarily good clothing, good equipment and that the sled had a reasonable weight and was of an appropriate type."

IN FEBRUARY 1933, Brun gave a lecture to the Oslo Military Society on good clothing for winter warfare based on the experiment. The clothes created debate. But due to poor finances in the Armed Forces, they could not buy everything they wanted. The Brynje shirt was therefore only introduced in a few smaller departments, and distributed to students at the Infantry's Shooting and Winter School, the War School and the Commander's School. According to letters from Brun's time in the Armed Forces, the idea was to give them an introduction to the undergarments without using coercion, to open the way for them to use what was regarded as a good military field garment.

During the lecture at the Oslo Military Society, Brun was asked by Crown Prince Olav if it was true that Brun was called "Iron Henrik", writes Ulateig. It was a nickname Brun had received when he led the mountain patrols. Because everyone knew that Brun was strong-willed and had a very hot temper. Those who had experienced Brun's anger and outbursts of rage said "Gær'n Henrik" ("Mad Henrik"). Brun is said to have answered the Crown Prince like this: "Yes, but in Uvdal they call me Svart-Henrik" ("Black Henrik", meaning he could go wild with rage), writes Ulateig.

In 1936, one of those who had followed Brun's work, Gardechef T. Graff-Wang, wrote a letter thanking him for the zeal and interest shown by the captain: "The work the captain has carried out in the matter of the infantry's winter equipment will form a valuable contribution to the solution of this difficult question.”

The Brynje mesh shirts are sold in Oslo

THE BRYNJE MESH SHIRTS WERE POPULAR and, among other things, sold from Mehren's men's equipment in Rosenkratz street in Oslo. An advertisement in the Saturday newspaper on March 14th 1936 shows that the store had Captain Bruns Brynje shirt and everything you needed in sportswear for Easter holidays. The shirt was sold in two types. A rough mesh shirt for outdoor work and hiking. And a thinner mesh shirt, also called "salongbrynja" (the lounge shirt), when using a collar. This shirt was well suited for everyday use in the city.

At the same time, the newspaper has a long article with good advice on the way to the high mountains. Here the Brynje shirt is thoroughly presented. Henrik was then an unpaid captain in the Norwegian army and a private farmer in Uvdal. Journalist Jørgen Juve emphasized that the development of practical mountain equipment had important aspects. Nevertheless, there were far too few who took the point, and also the Armed forces did not set aside enough money to develop winter equipment. "The private individuals who have dealt with this have had no other support than the general public", writes the journalist.

Brun wanted to be the first to ski the length of Greenland alone

​​​​​​Henrik Brun also wanted to test the equipment on a trip across the ice sheet in Greenland. He wanted to follow Nansen's route. Willie Knudsen, one of Norway's unknown polar "giant" with 33 years behind him in the Arctic, said that Brun wanted to be the first person to ski alone across the ice. He wanted to find out how military personnel could best get around and manage in polar regions. King Haakon supported the plans. Originally, the expedition was to have two participants, but Brun had to travel alone. He was given a ride on the polar ship "Quest" up the coast of Greenland in 1936. The boat anchored off the mainland not far from Clavering Island and Jordan Hill, a 1300 meter high mountain with a glacier on top. The start was to go from the Wordie glacier.

Knudsen and one other person on board "Quest" had volunteered to help Brun up on the glacier with supplies and equipment. Time worked against Brun, he had to start straight away. According to Knudsen, they looked "comically insignificant" under the enormous glacier. The glacier calved icebergs, the boulders filled the air and it was almost difficult to think. The glacier rivers, holes and and meltwater could take them straight to death. With rucksacks, guns and sleds in tow, they climbed up the mountain. Here it was probably only the Inuit and an expedition in 1932 that had been before them. After 25 extremely hard kilometres, Brun had to go on alone.

He had a sled with him that could adjust to the terrain, be folded together and carried on his back. Those who go on long expeditions today use similar sleds to carry equipment and food. But instead of being a trip in gently rising terrain, it was a single tough long slope. The sled was not solid enough. It could not withstand the hard ice on the glacier. Brun realized that he had to turn around. He camped at the foot of Jordan Hill. There, the polar veteran Otto Sverdrup was to pick him up with the ship "Polarbjørn" ("Polar bear") if something went wrong. The deadline was eight days. Brun got on board before the ship sailed back to Norway.

Photo: Henrik Brun at the Wordie Glacier in Greenland in 1936. (Source: The Brun family)

Words of praise from the Field Artillery Regiment in 1940

IN MARCH 1940, the Field Artillery Regiment had provided the Brynje mesh shirt to all personnel who went on neutrality duty. This was the first time the Brynje shirt was tested by an entire field battalion. In a letter addressed to Brun, it is stated that a total of 600 Brynje shirts were distributed. The words of praise were many.

• "During the spot tests, which have been carried out from time to time to clarify the crew's impression, the answer has always been the same, that its ventilating and insulating properties fully correspond to the expectations that had been set according to the previous advertising." (Chief of the Staff Battery, Captain Egers)
   
• "The soldiers managed to stay warm even in the severest cold (- 30). The reason for this was that, in addition to the clothing, the soldiers had been given a Brynje shirt (Brun's model). The shirt was used by all the soldiers and everyone was very satisfied." (3rd Field Battery Commander, Captain Smith)
   
• "The boys liked the Brynje shirts very much" (Commander of the 4th Field Battery, Captain Hellum)

During the Finnish Winter War (1939-40) there was also a great demand for Brynje mesh shirts, writes Lauritzen and Frøstrup. They add that much of Brun's equipment, such as uniforms and Brynje shirts, was also used by the unit he led during the battles at Narvik in the spring of 1940.

1940 - Second World War

NORWAY WAS ILL-EQUIPPED FOR WAR when the Second World War broke out. We had a "etiquette defense" without weapons. The government had declared that Norway should be neutral in the superpower conflict, which in reality did not happen, according to the Nasjonal Samling-friendly newspaper "Folk og Land". The editors of the newspaper also believed that the victorious side distorted and falsified history after the war.

Ten years after the war started, Brun wrote a report about Company 7 of the 15th Infantry Regiment under the 6th Field Brigade, which Brun led on the Narvik Front. He did not want to write the report during the war for fear that it could fall into the wrong hands. After the sentence as a country traitor, it was not relevant either. But in 1950 he changed his mind both with regard to his descendants and the company.

The experiences Captain Brun had in Narvik probably shaped his opinions later in life. Brun was almost a fanatical supporter of a strong defense and he was very critical of the Norwegian officers, who he believed failed in their task. Therefore we will here go more into detail about how things went with Brun during the war.

In the autumn of 1939, when the war between Finland and Russia broke out, Captain Brun had applied for leave from the Army to volunteer in Finland. He did not want Norway to experience the "disgrace" that Norwegian volunteers were led by foreign officers. But as an officer obliged to mobilize, he did not get leave. Therefore, Brun asked instead to be ordered as company commander at the neutrality guard in Northern Norway, which was located in Bardu. Because he was sure that the war would come.

Brun was now 42 years old, and one of the oldest company commanders. Nevertheless, he was one of the fittest, according to Ulateig. At the end of January 1940, he arrived. He spent the waiting time training the company and acquiring equipment. He wanted to give the soldiers a chance to survive. They barely had skis. He informed the regimental office that the salary was to be withheld as a guarantee for purchases he was going to make without approval from his superiors. Among other things, Brun procured 30 snow shovels, which he believed saved the company from major losses. He also procured equipment so that skis could be turned into emergency sledges for wounded soldiers, writes Brun in the report.

BRUN WAS SKEPTICAL about the other officers. He thought the duty to obey was hollowed out, so that discipline would not hold in battle. Brun had his own guidelines which he read out to his company under "pay attention and salute". The 150 soldiers were fishermen and small farmers from Ofoten and Vesterålen, who had never seen war, writes Ulateig.

Brun thought the officers needed a similar sharpening. On 18 March 1940, he wrote a letter to King Haakon, as supreme warlord, in which he called the Norwegian crew "civilians in uniform". He asked his majesty to remind them that they were obliged to obey. Because, as Brun wrote in the letter: "The officer corps must know deep down, that being an officer means giving with all one's ability unrelentingly." The letter never arrived. It was stopped by Brun's superiors.

Then came the war. On the evening of 8 April, Captain Brun received orders to lead the entire second battalion towards Narvik. It was the start of a five-week long front-line operation with marginal weapons and winter equipment. On the evening of 9 April, Brun heard Quisling ask the military to lay down their weapons. This increased the fighting spirit of the soldiers, and afterwards Brun wrote: "Quisling helped me well on 9 April."

Brun's company advanced and launched a series of attacks. Brun stood in front. Because it was side by side with the soldiers that he felt happier and safer ever since he was a child, writes Brun. He was proud of his soldiers. “Some of them act like pure heroes. The simple but faithful boys", Brun is said to have said, writes Ulateig.

The company distinguished itself in the battle, and had more fallen than any similar division. The division lost 15 men and made a heroic effort against the Germans at Gratangen, according to Lauritzen and Frøstrup. Brun demanded full obedience from the crew, while exposing himself to the same stresses as the soldiers, writes Solhjell. After the war, Brun was furious because none of the soldiers received any bonuses, as he believed they had so earnestly deserved. Ulateig adds that the 7th company was the first to be deployed against the Germans on the Narvik front, and the last to fire bullets at Dietl's fleeing soldiers when the town was recaptured.

“Killing prisoners is murder, and destroys ourselves. The situation is often nervous when you take prisoners. One must be alert, both to one's own and the enemy's movements. It is so easy for something to be misunderstood, and it will easily become a bloodbath. But once the prisoners are disarmed, then by God they are just some poor freezing devils who have obeyed an order, exactly like ourselves. If you have a cup of coffee to share, then do it. Remember one thing: We shall come out of this war as better people than we went into it. We must not do an unworthy act. The point of war is to win, it is not necessary to make piles of corpses." Henrik Brun to the soldiers in company 7 (Source: Fencing report kp.7/I.R.15 1940 by Henrik Brun)

BRUN WAS ALSO FURIOUS about what happened outside the company. English and French came ashore at Narvik. To the battalion commander, Brun is said to have said: "Before we are even fully mobilized, foreign troops are standing in Norway as our allies. Some strangers we must fight, others not. What kind of neutrality is this!” Later, he is said to have said: "I think there is far too much in this country that smells like shit. Quisling, government, Storting, press, major, etc. Shouldn't we ourselves create the act of soldiering as a basis for Norwegian spiritual upliftment!"

Brun's contempt for his superiors had now become strong and open. He almost had a calling to save the Norwegian army, writes Ulateig. Brun himself told of officers who tried to undermine his authority. They scolded him like a madman, writes Solhjell.

On May 18th he learned that the King and the government were nearby. Brun applied for leave to make another attempt to get the king to sharpen up the officers. He sent the letter to the king again together with a cover letter in which he wrote that the Army "acts as though there is peace, now as before ". If nothing was done to strenghten the Norwegian Armed forces, he would not bear the shame of wearing a Norwegian officer's uniform.

Brun took his threat seriously. 14 days later he sent an application to be relieved of his officer duties. He would rather be an ordinary, fighting soldier at the front. Soon after, on 7 June, the King and the government left the country. On 10 June, the remnants of the Norwegian army capitulated. Brun received the application in return. In mid-June 1940, he traveled home to Uvdal. In retrospect, Brun was frustrated that he was not allowed to stay until Narvik was recaptured and that he was too harsh with his superiors, the family says.

On 31 January 1945, 28 sergeants, corporals and privates, who had fought under Brun during the campaign in Narvik 1940, sent a letter to his wife Brita. They write that they knew the captain as a very brave and cold-blooded officer. When they discussed, Brun made no secret of the fact that he sympathized with the German people, not Hitler, and that he primarily had his own country's interests to look after. They write that company 7./I.R.15 was one of the best units under Brun's leadership. The company would hardly have coped with the many stresses it was exposed to without the training they had received from Brun. They reminded of the old saying "As the master, so his apprentice" and add that they can say with certainty that Captain Brun has the greatest honour. The letter is concluded by saying that they hoped the text would make it to the court case, and that it would benefit Captain Brun. (Source: Folk og Land, No. 1 – 1989)

THE CAPTAIN PRESENTED HIMSELF as relatively friendly to Germany, and in the great power conflict he was on the side of Germany. Nevertheless, he was first and foremost a national-minded Norwegian who wanted to protect the nation's honor. Even after the Germans had taken Setermoen, Brun raised the Norwegian split flag while German officers saluted. According to Solhjell, Brun gave expression to ideas about the right of the strongest, in addition to National Socialist ideology, where individuals and nations create their own destiny.

The way Brun saw it, the occupier - according to international law - were the legal masters as long as the war lasted. He pointed out that the military defense had capitulated, and that the king and the government had left the country. The country therefore had no legal, constitutional Norwegian supreme leader responsible for giving orders and directives for Norwegians' actions in Norway. According to Solhjell, this was not an unusual opinion in 1940. The fight for a free Norway and Europe had to be carried forward with the means at their disposal. Norwegians had to take their share of the responsibility.

From this point of view, it was not surprising that Brun stood up as an adviser to the Norwegian Legion. The organization was to be built up in the summer of 1941 on the initiative of Quisling, leader of the political party National Samling (NS), and the German Terboven, Reichskommissar for the occupied Norwegian areas. Before the war, NS had warned against what they perceived as irresponsible policies from the authorities. The party advocated a strong defence, an uncompromising policy of neutrality and wanted to unite the nation, according to Folk og Land.

The idea was that the Norwegian Legion would enter the front in Finland. Brun was intended for a role at the Organizational Office. But he enjoyed being with the soldiers, and therefore became company commander of the 1st company in the training camp at Gulskogen near Drammen, writes Solhjell.

Brenden and Natedal, who recently published the book "Norwegian volunteers in the Waffen-SS", state that Brun also was the first company commander of the 1st company in the Norwegian Legion. In the book, there are several pictures of the captain during the establishment of the legion. Together with the entire battalion, Brun and his company traveled by boat to Fallingbostel in Germany to get more education and to become a united unit on 30 June 1941.

Battalion commander Jørgen Bakke helped the Germans gain control of the legion. He knew that the unit could no longer stay united if the soldiers found out about the truth, that they were going to the Eastern Front. On departure, he insisted that the final destination was Finland. It is not clear whether Brun and the other non-commissioned officers knew that the soldiers were being deceived. Because in Germany, Bakke was appointed as the new commander of the entire Norwegian Legion by the Germans. In this way, the legion was torn free from the staff in Oslo.

IN FALLINGBOSTEL, THE SOLDIERS continued to practice without weapons. Brun didn't like that. "We are standing here in a foreign country, after 5 weeks, still without weapons, as if we were prisoners of war in an enemy country. We legionnaires, we front fighters are the real guarantors that Adolf Hitler keeps his word about a Free Norway", he is said to have stated in a speech to the soldiers on 17 August.

The next day they got weapons, but the German commanders kept Brun under surveillance. For Brun, Norwegian honor was at stake, German progress on the battlefields came second. Brun was now SS-Hauptsturmführer. In autumn, new legionnaires came from Gulskogen to Fallingbostel. Brun's time as a legionnaire came to an end. The German bosses wanted him gone. The direct reason why he was sent home, was a speech he gave during a reception for a German officer. There, Brun is said to have said: "Here we have come from Norway with open hearts and open minds to fight together with you on the Eastern Front. We have given you an open hand, but you have spat in it!”

The family says that the man from Uvdal said what he meant, and this was not accepted. According to Solhjell, Brun considered joining as a soldier, but then he chose to return home to Uvdal. His parting words was: "After all, boys, you feel Norway's honor burning in your hearts. Hang in there guys! Hold on!"

The Norwegian legionnaires never came to Finland. Most of them were buried during the war in the Soviet Union, writes Solhjell.

Back in Uvdal, Brun probably carried a fear that the Germans were after him. As a result of the explosion at the heavy water plant at Rjukan, the area was exposed to German raids. Brun was taken to court and his home in Lunda was searched by the Gestapo. Brun also knew about the Home Forces, of which there were many in Uvdal, but he did not reveal anything of what he saw and knew.

At this time the world was in crisis. Brun had thought the great enemy was Russia. Now he had fought for his country against the Germans and lost.

BRUN PLEDGED NOT GUILTY of letting the country down. In the court documents from the National Archives, the indictment against Brun was based on the fact that he joined National Samling on 3 January 1941, and that he remained a member until the capitulation. He applied for admission to the Rikshirden in January 1942, although he deregistered five days later. He served voluntarily in the Norwegian Legion from June 1941 to December of the same year. In the summer of 1942, he applied to be commissioned as a soldier in the Norwegian Legion. After the summer of 1942, Brun was no longer considered a detriment to the country. Then he stayed on the farm in Uvdal.

Brun was convicted of treason, even though he was in active service as a captain when the war broke out. In mitigation, the court points out that Brun had done a lot for the development of winter equipment. The Brynje shirt was highlighted, and he was praised for his efforts in Narvik. The court also emphasized that Brun had meant that the Norwegian Legion should act as Norway's liberators during the war, and the letter he sent Quisling and Terboven that Quisling had to withdraw in favor of the king, the government and a legally elected Storting.

He was sentenced to forced labor for three years, minus the 357 days he had spent in custody. Those closest to him said that the sentence was hard to swallow for someone who believed that he had always wanted the best for the country and the people. The fact that he was labeled a traitor to the country was something that haunted him for the rest of his life. Brun also lost the right to vote for ten years. He lost the right to serve in the national government and was not allowed to do public service. The punishment was logging in Verjedalen. Brun didn't like this, so he got to dig ditches instead. Only when Brun was in his 50s did he become a free man.

His daughter Vesle Helga says that life did not turn out quite as Brun had imagined. After the war, he would like to move to Helgeland, after falling in love with the region; but his wife Brita objected. Brun wanted to prove that he could manage without a forest, and gave the forest to the four children. At home in Lunda, he sold the cows and started up again with sheep. Some time after the war, Brita lost her job as a teacher in Kyrkjebygda. She then felt that she had to go away in order to live on. The couple separated in 1952. The youngest children were with Brita. Brun lived alone and looked after the sheep. This was a difficult time. He had to find a way to live on. Brun thought and he wrote. In lonely moments he wore down the floorboards. According to Helga E., Brun's niece, the uncle lived mostly in his thoughts.

- It was easy to get entangled in ideology, and quite another task to untangle yourself. Even when it turns out that you have been in league with thugs. It is, if nothing else, a lesson we can learn from the twentieth century, says Helga E. in the book about the family in Lunda.

Jacobsen in Larvik machine-produced Brun's mesh shirt after the war.

IN 1887 JACOB JACOBSEN LEFT his extended family in Denmark to settle in Larvik, Norway. There he established J. Jacobsen Trikotaje and Confectionery. Four generations later, Bjørn Jacob Melsom stands at the helm. The company is now called Brynje of Norway, and is one of the oldest family-owned knitwear companies in Norway. Melsom, who has been in the family business since he was a child, is very clear in his speech:

- It is Captain Brun's mesh shirt that made us what we are. Not many Norwegian knitwear factories has had similar success. The idea came from Uvdal, the brand is now world-renowned.

- How did you come into contact with Brun?

- It was machine knitting that was difficult for Brun. He had no machines or money to get the shirt produced. When he came to us, he had been around several places without success. It probably had to do with the fact that he had been convicted a traitor to his country. The army no longer wanted anything to do with him. He spoke to my father, who had Raschel machines to produce the shirts. We made knitted prototypes to see if it could be done. We had the technique to make them, even if the holes were a little smaller than on the coarse crocheted shirts, says Melsom.

Melsom must end the call in order to accept a delivery. When Hallingdølen calls again he has found the document folder.

- As I have understood it, Brun was happy to get something in return for the work with the mesh shirt. 2,000 NOK was the maximum he got out of a job that had taken him around 30 years. We had faith in his invention, and in that way he made sure that his work was passed on, says Melsom before adding:

- Fortunately, Brun got something for the invention. The amount was a good chunk of money by the standards of the time. Norway was one of the poorest countries in Europe at the time. It was cheap to produce here, with raw material from, among others, Portugal, Spain, the USA and Egypt.

MELSOM SAYS that just after the war, the Norwegian Armed Forces would like to have the jersey produced. That was probably part of the explanation for why the family business took an interest in "Brynja". Together with the Army, they developed a prototype.

- We didn't get the first tender. It was probably a shock at the time, as it was about shirts for many soldiers. The reason is of course the price. A total of 14 companies submitted tenders. We had the papers ready, but the Norwegian Armed Forces had to have several bidders to run a tender competition. In the case of public tenders, it is permitted to copy and make patents available to others. The disadvantage of the system is that others are free to exploit. We have experienced it many times, as we are not the cheapest. It's tough, but those are the rules of the game. It's sad to lose anyway, because there are many who wants to sell.

- What do you mean?

- Among other things, we sold a Raschel machine to Edvin Thorson Jr., the man behind the EKT health shirt. Thorson was one of many who "jumped on the health shirt wave". At this point we had already developed Bruns mesh shirt further in collaboration with the Norwegian Armed Forces and bought and registered the brand name. Thorson entered the marked early, but by this time we had already developed the first machine-produced mesh health shirt, says Melsom.

Melsom tells that the first tender the Army issued went to a manufacturer further north in Norway. Nevertheless, the family business did not give up. Instead, they looked for other places to sell the Brynje mesh shirt.

- We were lucky even if we were unlucky. This way we got a foothold outside the country's borders.

Mt. Everest in 1953 and abroad

AND THE MESH SHIRT ATTRACTED ATTENTION. In 1953, Brynje equipped the first expedition to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay wore the Brynje mesh shirt next to their skin.

- Our importer in England sold mesh shirts in buckets and pails. They were originally Polish fighter pilots in England during the war. The company started importing equipment and came up with the idea of ​​equipping the Everest expedition with the Brynje shirt. I have no idea how we came into contact with them. After all, these were military personnel, and there were close ties between England and Norway. It is not inconceivable that they had heard about the mesh shirt through the Armed Forces. In any case, it was top marketing for Brynje, and did wonders for the export of the shirts.

At the same time, the mesh shirt was used more and more by sports stars. A completely new concept for civilian use was born. Swedish Ingemar Johansson, who later became world champion in heavyweight boxing in the 1960s, was sponsored with Brynje mesh and a fee of NOK 1,500. According to Melsom, Brynje was one of the first underwear manufacturers to sponsor athletes, something that changed both the popularity and the sale of the garment.

Brun's invention made the knitwear factory in Larvik switch from women's fashion and children's clothing to garments for the active, the military, sports and outdoor life. After the war, people also emphasized more leisure time and use of nature, which now benefited Brynje. At its peak, the company delivered a volume of 150,000-200,000 garments. The Brynje mesh shirt has been part of several fashion trends, where Brynje has sometimes not been able to produce enough.

Although THORSON JR. and his EKT shirts were made on Brynje's machines, they were still a competitor.

- The EKT shirt and Brynje became about the same size in Norway. EKT was perhaps bigger than Brynje in this country, says Melsom.

He further says that at the end of the 50s, Brynje went to trial against EKT over the brand name, which they won. The end of the story was that Brynje bought back the machines from Thorson when he retired, and they took over the right to produce under the name EKT for regular customers and for Langedrag Nature Park in Nore and Uvdal.

- Nevertheless, it was more appropriate for us to produce under the name "Brynje", which was a bigger brand on a global basis, adds Melsom.

Melsom says that when the Norwegian Armed Forces came back to Brynje after a few years, the business lived well on exports plus deliveries to the Army. The Brynje shirt has been further developed in collaboration with the Norwegian Armed Forces for many years and many adaptations have been made. They still sell shirts to the Norwegian Special forces.

- The history of Brun, innovation work and testing of hiking equipment have meant a lot to Brynje. We still live because of the health shirt, but now it comes not only in cotton, but in wool and synthetic material. We have various mixtures and even socks in the same principle as Brun invented, Melsom tells and adds:

- The Brynje shirt is an export success from Uvdal. There is nothing like it. The shirt has been involved in so many things: The longest tours, the highest peaks, on foot, on skis and by bike. It has been to the North Pole, the South Pole, Greenland and Antarctica. Captain Brun was a capable fellow. I give great thanks to Brun and his invention. Because even if Brun ended up on the wrong side during the war, it's about time he get's credit. Because this is an example of a great Norwegian who was among the toughest. He wanted to defend Norway and give the country a different rearmament than was the case before the war. He deserves all honor, concludes the clothing manufacturer in Larvik.
 

SOURCES
Hallingdølen has gained access to material from the Brun family, which contains documentation such as newspaper clippings, Henrik Brun's own notes, letters, a prototype of the mesh shirt and the report that Brun wrote after his efforts on the Narvik front. In addition, we have used material from the book "Familien Brun på Lunda 1912 til 2012", written by Henrik's son, Arvid Bøckmann Brun. We have been in contact with the family business Brynje of Norway, which industrialized Brun's invention and made it available to the masses. We have supplemented information from the book "Bygdehistorie for Nore og Uvdal" by Kåre Olav Solhjell and the article "Norges tapte våpenære?", written by Kåre Olav Solhjell. The article can be found in the archive of the Norwegian Occupation History Foundation. There we also found information in the newspaper "Folk og Land", No. 1 - 1989. We have also used the book "Fjellpionerer" by Per Roger Lauritzen and Johan Christian Frøstrup, the Vi Menn article "Jern-Henrik - too tough for the SS" by Egil Ulateig and the book "Mitt Arktis" about Willie Knutsen, Norway's unknown polar hero, written by son Will C. Knutsen.
 

• See also: Brynje's story