PALawrence Brooks, the man considered to be the US’ oldest living World War II veteran, has just celebrated his 110th birthday.
Brooks was born on September 12, 1909. On Thursday, family, friends and active military members joined him at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to mark the occasion.
The veteran got to enjoy cupcakes and a musical performance by the Victory Belles trio.
The 110-year-old served in the 91st Engineer Battalion stationed in New Guinea and then the Philippines — predominately an African-American unit of the US Army.
He served as a support worker as well as being a servant to three white officers – he also reached the rank of private first class.
As reported by Fox News, Brooks said:
I’ve started to think about not having many birthdays left. But I’m not worried about it, because God has let me live this long already.
I think it’s because I’ve always liked people so much. Oh yes, I do.
PABrooks’ claim to fame comes after the death of Richard Overton, previously the oldest living World War II veteran – he died in December 2018 at the age of 112.
Globally, the oldest living World War II veteran is Gustav Gerneth, who is currently 113 years old. Gerneth was a German soldier who was captured by the Russians during the war.
In an interview with the museum, Brooks recounted a tremendously exciting, but terrifying story.
Check out the video below:
Brooks courted with death while riding a C-47 cargo plane from Australia to New Guinea. The plane was loaded down with barbed wire but ‘one of the motors went out on it,’ he said.
In order to lighten the plane, Brooks threw cargo out into the ocean – there was only enough parachutes available for the pilot and the co-pilot.
Brooks said he joked to the aircraft’s pilot: ‘If he’s going to jump, I’m going to grab him.’ Alas, he said ‘it was a scary moment… but we made it.’
PAAs reported by Metro, Stephen Watson, president and CEO of the museum, said:
The museum’s mission is to tell important stories of the men and women who served in World War II.
We are honored to celebrate Lawrence Brooks, whose life and service are filled with such stories of bravery and determination.
According to nola.com, Brooks, who is a father to five children and five step-children, and is one of less than 500 ‘supercentenarians’ worldwide – someone who has reached the age of 110.
PAThe museum have celebrated Brooks’ birthdays since 2014 – they consider him ‘their veteran’.
The museum’s vice president, Peter Crean, said:
We absolutely love Mr Brooks. We’ve told him, ‘As long as you keep having birthdays, we are going to keep having birthday parties for you here.’
We consider him our veteran.
Many happy returns from all of us at UNILAD, Mr Brooks.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.