America's Oldest WWII Veteran Celebrates 111th Birthday

Sep 17, 2020

New Orleans resident Lawrence Brooks, America's oldest living WWII veteran, was given a grand celebration for his 111th birthday on September 12. The celebration included social distancing measures and necessary safety precautions while giving thanks to Brooks for his service. From singers to acrobats, the celebration was one to remember.

Lawrence Brooks was born in 1909 and is best known for his participation in the 91st Engineer Battalion, a battalion for African-Americans, according to National Geographic. He initially worked as support and assisted the higher ranking officers in his unit. He was later promoted to Private 1st Class for his perseverance.

The celebration done in his honor was hosted by the National WWII Museum that had actively participated in hosting his birthday every year before 2020. Due to the pandemic, the location of his celebration had to be changed for the safety of everyone involved. It took place at Brooks' home in New Orleans, where the proper social distancing measures were taken.

The most notable parts of the celebration were the songs, military flyovers, and speeches, Fox News reports. The vocal trio of the museum, the Victory Belles, sang several tracks for him, including America's favorite birthday tune, Happy Birthday. Their performance was complemented by the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team doing various tricks and keeping the audience entertained. In the middle of the celebration, a military flyover occurred over his house.

Brooks was wearing a New Orleans face mask and seemed to be having a great time. He even chimed in with a little two-step and cheerfully waved to the crowd. After the celebration, it was time to distribute birthday cards. Before the celebration, the museum had hosted a national birthday card drive, hoping to reach at least 500 people. The results were astonishing – nearly 10,000 cards had been sent back to the organization. People from all over the United States had expressed their birthday wishes for the 111-year-old veteran and sent a card back.

When Brooks was asked about his secret to living such a long life, he simply replied that he had faith in God and was nice to everyone he met. He once had a close call with death during his time in service. One of the cargo jets that he was in had lost one of its motors, and they had to ease the load on the jet before it collapsed.

Brooks has a large family, consisting of 10 children and 12 grandchildren. A few of his grandchildren already have children of their own as well. His first wife, Leona, perished in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina. He later got remarried to a woman who already had children of her own, according to National Geographic.

When looking back at his war experiences, Brooks claims that he had some good times and a few bad ones. He tried to merge all of his memories together so that the bad ones would become somewhat of a blur. He eventually revealed that the Black soldiers were also subject to discrimination based on the color of their skin. He had served before the civil rights movement took place, and thus, racism was still largely prominent.

When Brooks found out that he would have to kill people in the army, he decided not to join. He claims that he was always taught to treat everyone with kindness and love everyone for who they are. As such, he could not stand the thought of taking away someone's life.

What did you think about this story? Be sure to tell your friends about Lawrence Brooks' story to honor everything he has done for his country!