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#1
25 July 2006, 23:17
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Carl Brashear--Inspiration for 'Men of Honor' dies
RIP, Mr. Brashear. You truly are a Man of Honor....
[SIZE=3]http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/25/brashear.obit.ap/index.html[/SIZE] [SIZE=3][/SIZE] [SIZE=3]http://www.divingheritage.com/brshearkern.htm[/SIZE] [SIZE=3][/SIZE] Inspiration for 'Men of Honor' dies Carl Brashear was first black U.S. Navy diver [SIZE=3]Tuesday, July 25, 2006; Posted: 9:20 p.m. EDT (01:20 GMT) [/SIZE] [RIGHT][RIGHT][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/RIGHT][/RIGHT] Navy diver Carl Brashear lost a leg in 1966 helping to recover a lost hydrogen bomb. RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- Carl M. Brashear, the first black U.S. Navy diver who was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2000 film "Men of Honor," died Tuesday. He was 75. [SIZE=3]Brashear died at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth of respiratory and heart failure, the medical center said.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Brashear retired from the Navy in 1979 after more than 30 years of service. He was the first Navy diver to be restored to full active duty as an amputee, the result of a leg injury he sustained during a salvage operation.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]"The African-American community lost a great leader today in Carl Brashear," Gooding said of the man he played alongside Robert DeNiro, who was Brashear's roughneck training officer in "Men of Honor." "His impact to us as a people and all races will be felt for many decades to come."[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]In 1966 Brashear was assigned to recover a hydrogen bomb that dropped into waters off of Spain when two U.S. Air Force planes collided.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]During the mission Brashear was struck below his left knee by a pipe that the crew was using to hoist the bomb out of the water. Brashear was airlifted to a naval hospital where the bottom of his left leg was amputated to avoid gangrene. It later was replaced with a prosthetic leg.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]The Navy was ready to retire Brashear from active duty, but he soon began a grueling training program that included diving, running and calisthenics.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]"Sometimes I would come back from a run, and my artificial leg would have a puddle of blood from my stump. I wouldn't go to sick bay because they would have taken me out of the program," Brashear said in 2002 when he was inducted into the Gallery of Great Black Kentuckians. "Instead, I'd go hide somewhere and soak my leg in a bucket of hot water with salt in it -- that's an old remedy I learned growing up."[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Brashear faced an uphill battle when he joined the Navy in 1948 at the age of 17, not long after the U.S. military desegregated.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]"I went to the Army office, and they weren't too friendly," Brashear said in 2002. "But the Navy recruiter was a lot nicer. Looking back, I was placed in my calling."[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Brashear, the son of poor sharecroppers in Sonora, Kentucky, quickly decided after boot camp that he wanted to become a deep-sea diver.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]"Growing up on a farm in Kentucky, I always dreamed of doing something challenging," he said. "When I saw the divers for the first time, I knew it was just what I wanted."[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]In 1954 he was accepted and graduated from the diving program, despite daily battles with discrimination, including having hate notes left on his bunk.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]He went on to train for advanced diving programs before his 1966 incident.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]"He kept to himself personally, but his military life was an open book," said Junetta Brashear, his first wife, who lives in Portsmouth, Virginia, near Brashear's home in Virginia Beach.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]She said Brashear's health started to deteriorate about three years ago, but that he had experienced problems ever since the amputation.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Brashear married childhood friend Junetta Wilcox in 1952 and had four children -- Shazanta, DaWayne, Phillip and Patrick -- before their divorce in 1978. He later married Hattie R. Elam and Jeanette A. Brundage.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Funeral arrangements are pending.[/SIZE] 
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#4
25 July 2006, 23:27
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Some men collect history, some men make history...
He was one who made history. Rest In Peace
__________________
Support your local Special Forces Association - Join. Life Member - Chapter 46 Philippines - A3630
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#5
26 July 2006, 01:09
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Quote:
We are all good men...Trident 86 do I know you? Fair winds and following seas, Hooyah Deepsea
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#6
26 July 2006, 01:13
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Divers Prayer
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#7
26 July 2006, 02:15
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RIP Navy Diver
__________________
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.- T.E. Lawrence, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"
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#10
26 July 2006, 06:52
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RIP
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#11
26 July 2006, 06:54
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May he Rest in Peace.
Another local article on him: http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories...175615&tref=po
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#12
26 July 2006, 07:50
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When Mr. Brashear entered a room he caried himself in a manner that commanded respect. Not overt, but you could tell that guy was respectable.
Heaven is waiting to pipe in another great man...
__________________
I can imagine a no more rewarding career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy." Pres. John F. Kennedy Remarks to the Naval Academy August 1963
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#13
26 July 2006, 15:50
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Rest In Peace.
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#15
26 July 2006, 16:49
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RIP
__________________
La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida, aye dios! Ruben Blades I'm more Muj than the Muj. Mr. S (OIF 2 An Anbar) http://www.socnetcentral.com/vb/online.php
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#16
26 July 2006, 17:21
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RIP
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#17
26 July 2006, 18:24
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I DON"T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD WANT TO BE A NAVY DIVER . . . well, yes, I guess I do. RIP Chief.
__________________
Wolves and alligators should be cross-bred to make wolfagators that will be silent and fast, and we'll never have to hear from those people, they will just be wolfagator shit. -Eltrane Are you fucking serious? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week...and I'm at a senior staff planning conference, so, the bar has been set pretty high. You should be proud. - Gavin “I was recently on a boat to Alcatraz. ‘Why can’t we reopen it for all the bad guys in San Francisco now?’ Out-of-towners all laughed.” “The residents on the boat didn’t.”
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#18
26 July 2006, 19:59
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RIP sir.
__________________
"The most HSLD stuff ever taught was the basics. So-called 'advanced training' is often no more than the very fluid and expert application of those basic skills." - SOTB
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#19
26 July 2006, 20:05
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RIP Sir.
__________________
You do not greet Death. You punch him in the throat repeatedly as he drags you away. (Insert your name), what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. USMC. We put the FUN in Fundamental Extremist! :cool:
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#22
31 August 2006, 19:13
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..RIP Sir.
__________________
A picture paints a thousand words. Last edited by Militaryman94; 31 August 2006 at 19:21.
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