Oldest U.S. WWII Veteran, Lawrence Brooks, turns 111

[crimsonaudio]

Happy birthday, Mr. Brooks!

Oldest U.S. WWII Veteran, Lawrence Brooks, turns 111

In the year 1909, William Howard Taft served as President, The NAACP was founded and Lawrence Brooks became the newest edition to his family in Norwood, Louisiana, right outside of Baton Rouge.

Today, Brooks is known as the oldest known U.S. WWII veteran after turning 111-years-old.

Brooks served as a support worker in the Army’s 91st Engineer Battalion, a majority African-American unit stationed in New Guinea and the Philippines during the war. He reached the rank of private first class.

 

[Crimson1967]

About 300,000 left.

On 75th anniversary of V-E Day, about 300,000 American WWII veterans are alive

World War II service members’ numbers have dwindled from around 939,000 veterans in 2015 to about 300,000 in 2020.

www.pewresearch.org

 

[DogPatch]

The Army discharged Brooks on Nov. 7, 1941, after his one-year obligation ended, only to get called on again a month later after Pearl Harbor.

Reminded me of a guy I was working with on 9/11/01. He was worried because he had retired from either the Reserves or National Guard, and was worried they wouldn't process his paperwork because of the attack.

 

[Relayer]

God bless you, Mr. Brooks.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

The father of a friend passed away early this AM from covid complications at age 95. He turned 18 in a foxhole in Belgium. He beat a lot of odds to survive that long...