Photo Courtesy of Military Times/ Kristine Froeba
Lawrence Brooks, the oldest living World War II Veteran age 112, says he hopes to be remembered one day as a “good soldier.”
According to the Military Times, Brooks was gifted with a replica of his WWII uniform and his old unit’s badge by his daughter Vanessa during a recent stay at the ICU of the New Orleans VA hospital at the beginning of November. Military officials reissued the uniform after the dedicated soldier lost it during Hurricane Katrina.
Brooks’ health is steadily declining, and he wishes to spend the remainder of his days around family at home.
On November 4, Brooks was back home and sharing stories about his time in the army. He wore his uniform cap and held the emblem from the 91st Engineer Battalion, a predominantly African American unit where he served in Australia, Papua, and the Philippines.
The army man was drafted and served in the army in 1940 for both Louisiana and Texas. He participated in the well-known Louisiana Maneuvers, where 400,000 soldiers gathered to respond to Germany’s invasion of Poland and France.
Brooks completed his time of a one-year service, was discharged, and then went back to work in New Orleans in the following year. A few weeks after his return, the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, and he was reenlisted into the army.
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“There was no question,” said Brooks. “They just came right back and got me again.”
Brooks then recounted his time with the Australian people and spoke highly of them. He spoke of their acceptance of the 9,000 African American soldiers serving there during the war and the lack of color discrimination amongst the natives.
‘They were nice people, the Australians,” said Brooks. “They were wonderful; that’s what I didn’t understand; the Australians treated us like our own people treated us.”
Brooks was asked if he ever ran into any racial issues with his officers, to which he denied.
“They were good to me,” said Brooks. “I never had any problems.”
The proud military man said he cooked their meals at the joint mess hall and delivered them back to their base. The white officers and Black soldiers ate segregated.
“We had our tents, and the whites had their tents,” said Brooks. “They were next to each other, like next door.”
Brooks was asked about what he’d like to leave behind as his legacy once he passes on, to which he said, “I would like to be remembered as a strong man, a good soldier.”