Oldest US veteran of WWII, Lawrence N. Brooks, dies at 112
10th January 2022 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
New Orleans resident Lawrence Brooks, the oldest U.S. veteran of World War II, passed away Jan. 5 at the age of 112.
Brooks served in the Army when the American military was still racially segregated – Pres. Harry Truman wouldn’t order the integration of U.S. forces until 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War – but the Norwood, La., native who grew up in a sharecropping family in Mississippi served his country with honor.
Brooks, who passed away in his Central City home, was first drafted into the Army in 1940, at which time he served before being discharged and returning to New Orleans. However, one month later, Brooks again entered service shortly after the Japanese bombing of Pearly Harbor in December, an attack that catapulted the United States into combat as part of the Allied forces.
After domestic training with the 91st Engineer Battalion, Brooks and his unit were sent to the Pacific Theater, where they joined the Allies’ key defensive force in Australia that served as a bulwark against expanding Japanese forces.
Although he personally experienced a close scrape or two in Australia, Brooks and his unit never saw active combat during the war while in Australia. Brooks himself worked as a cook, valet and chauffeur for three officers while Down Under, and his engineering battalion helped build vital defense infrastructure such as bridges, airstrips and roads.
Brooks said later in life that while they were posted in the Aussie city of Queensland, he and his comrades enjoyed the kind of freedom and acceptance that was still being withheld from African-American citizens in the United States.
His unit left the South Pacific in 1944 and completed its service a year later. Over the ensuing decade, Brooks savored the memories he had from his time in the Army and expressed pride in what he and his peers had done. He said that despite the segregation with the U.S. military at the time, he was glad he could contribute to the eventual Allied victory.
“I don’t have no hard feelings toward nobody,” the Associated Press stated last week in quoting him from a 2014 oral history he gave in 2014. “I just want everything to be lovely, to come out right. I want people to have fun and enjoy themselves – be happy and not sad.”
In the years leading up to his death, Brooks was thrown birthday celebrations at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Museum officials gathered thousands of birthday well wishes from a public that, decades after the end of formal Jim Crowism, respected and admired him and his fellow Black American veterans.
“The Board of Trustees, staff and volunteers at The National WWII Museum will forever cherish the memories we shared with Lawrence Brooks,” Stephen J. Watson, World War II Museum president and CEO, said in a statement last week. “He was a beloved friend, a man of great faith and had a gentle spirit that inspired those around him. As the nation’s oldest known living veteran, he proudly served our country during World War II, and returned home to serve his community and church. His kindness, smile and sense of humor connected him to generations of people who loved and admired him. We send our sincerest condolences to his daughter Vanessa and the entire Brooks family.”
In a 2014 statement in Congress honoring Brooks, then-U.S. Rep Cedric Richmond noted that although Brooks had temporarily moved away in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the veteran couldn’t stay away from the city and community he loved.
“[H]e returned to New Orleans a little more than a year later,” Richmond said. “Mr. Brooks’ most enduring legacy is his engagement and involvement with his community in New Orleans.”
Brooks was even invited to pump up the NFL’s New Orleans Saints before a game in 2017, a rousing speech that prompted All-Pro defensive lineman Cam Jordan to give Brooks his Super Bowl tickets for that season. Brooks ended up witnessing the biggest annual sporting event in the country as a personal guest of Saints owner Tom Benson and Benson’s wife, Gayle.
“I just thought I’d say thank you for everything you do, your military service back in your younger days,” Jordan said to Brooks via Facetime, reported by WGNO-TV. “I appreciate everything you do.”
Brooks then replied, “I appreciate everything you’re doing, too.”
Brooks’ post-Army life included several challenges itself, such as the destruction of everything he owned by Katrina. That was after initially being denied the benefits of the landmark G.I. Bill that passed following the conclusion of the war to aid returning U.S. as they sought to reestablish their lives after their World War II service.
Brooks’ daughter and caregiver, Vanessa Brooks, lamented the prejudice and denial of benefits and recognition that her father and other Black veterans continued to experience after they came home.
“My father earned the Good Conduct Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and Presidential Unit Medal, then he was left behind,” she said as quoted by the Army Times. “He served the same five years. He was bombed and strafed in the South Pacific but was not offered a low-interest bank loan, a reduced down payment for a house, or an education.”
In 2019, Brooks, who earned the rank of Private First Class during the war, was interviewed by reporter Michelle Miller for a piece on “CBS This Morning.” During the interview, he described the reluctance he felt at first when told to attack Japanese soldiers, orders that conflicted with his Christian upbringing that asked believers to practice love.
“When I first went – was drafted into the Army, the old sergeant was telling us, ‘You’re training so you can go kill people.’ Kill people? ‘You mean as much as I love people, you‘re telling me I’ve got to go kill them?’”
Such dichotomies – urged to violence while trying to be loving and peaceful, fighting for freedom abroad while being denied it at home – were faced by Brooks and millions of other Black troops. However, he told CBS, he weathered those challenges and enjoyed a rich life.
“The Lord was just good to me,” he said.
This article originally published in the January 10, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
