Lawrence Brooks, America’s oldest living WWII veteran at 112, died Jan. 5 in his New Orleans home, according to his caretaker-daughter Vanessa Brooks. Brooks confirmed to Military Times that her father had been in and out of the local veterans’ hospital in recent months but was alert and enjoying the holidays. Brooks, who had become a local celebrity, celebrated his September birthdays with parties thrown by the National World War II Museum. For his 112th birthday, due to the pandemic, party-goers conducted a drive-by celebration. Brooks danced on his porch, serenaded by the museum’s singing trio Victory Belles while a military flyover banked down his Central City shotgun house. The Black Army veteran served at a time of segregation in U.S. history, where white and Black soldiers slept and ate separately. But he insisted that in the military he never dealt with race problems, and stories from the war were told with positivity and laughter. Brooks was one of 15 children of Norwood, La., sharecroppers. He was raised near Stephenson, Miss., a small sawmill town where his family moved for work during the Depression. (Source: Military Times 01/05/22) Oldest US World War II veteran dies at 112 in New Orleans (militarytimes.com)
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