Carl Maxie Brashear (January 19, 1931 – July 25, 2006) was a United States Navy sailor. He was a Master Diver, rising to the position in 1970, despite having his lower left leg amputated in 1966. The 2000 film Men of Honor was based on his life.
Early life and education
Brashear was born on January 19, 1931, in Tonieville, LaRue County, Kentucky, the sixth of 16 children to sharecroppers McDonald and Gonzella Brashear.[1][2] In 1935, the family settled on a farm in Sonora, Kentucky. Brashear attended Sonora Grade School from 1937 to 1946.
Brashear enlisted in the United States Navy on February 25, 1948, four months before the military was desegregated by President Harry S. Truman.[3] He graduated from the United States Navy Diving & Salvage School in 1954, becoming the first African-American to attend and graduate from the Diving & Salvage School and one of the first African-American United States Navy Divers.[1]
While attending diving school in Bayonne, New Jersey, Brashear faced hostility and racism. He found notes on his bunk saying, "We're going to drown you today, nigger!" and "We don't want any nigger divers." Brashear received encouragement to finish from Boatswain's MateFirst Class Harry M. Rutherford, and graduated 16 out of 17.
Brashear first worked as a diver retrieving approximately 16,000 rounds of ammunition that fell off a barge which had broken in half and sunk. On his first tour of shore duty in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, his duties included the salvaging of airplanes (including one Blue Angel) and recovering multiple dead bodies from the sea.
Brashear was assigned to escort the presidential yacht the Barbara Anne to Rhode Island. He met President Eisenhower and received a small knife that said, "To Carl M. Brashear. From Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957. Many, many thanks." After making Chief Petty Officer in 1959, he stayed at Guam for three years doing mostly demolition dives.
Leg amputation and recovery
Brashear (center) received an Outstanding Public Service Award in October 2000 from actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and then-Defense SecretaryWilliam Cohen for 42 years of combined military and federal civilian service. Gooding portrayed Brashear in the 2000 film Men of Honor.
During the bomb recovery operations on March 23, 1966, a lifting cable snapped, causing a pipe to swing across the deck of the USS Hoist. Brashear darted to push a shipmate out of the object's path. It consequently struck Brashear's left leg below the knee, nearly shearing it off. The impact flipped him in the air, almost casting him overboard before he landed on the deck.[6][7] He was evacuated to Torrejon Air Base in Spain, then to the USAF Hospital at Wiesbaden Air Base, Germany; and finally to the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. Beset with persistent infection and necrosis, his lower left leg was eventually amputated.
Brashear remained at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth from May 1966 until March 1967 recovering and rehabilitating from the amputation. From March 1967 to March 1968, Brashear was assigned to the Harbor Clearance Unit Two, Diving School, preparing for return to full active duty and diving.[8] In April 1968, after a long struggle, Brashear was the first amputee diver to be recertified as a United States Navy diver.[9] In 1970, he became possibly the first African-American master diver, (debated between him and John Henry Turpin) and served nine more years beyond that, achieving the rating of master chief boatswain's mate in 1971.[1][10] Brashear was motivated by his beliefs that "It's not a sin to get knocked down; it's a sin to stay down" and "I ain't going to let nobody steal my dream."
Brashear married and divorced three times:[2] Junetta Wilcoxson (1952–1978), Hattie R. Elam (1980–1983), and Jeanette A. Brundage (1985–1987). He had four children: Shazanta (1955–1996), DaWayne, Phillip, and Patrick.[1] Brashear's grand-nephew is a retired professional ice hockey player Donald Brashear.[11]
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Chief Boatswain's Mate Carl Maxie Brashear, United States Navy, for heroism while serving aboard U.S.S. HOIST (ARS-40), which was operating in support of Task Force 65 on 23 March 1966, in connection with salvage operations of great importance to the United States. While engaged in transferring stores from a landing craft to HOIST in heavy seas off the coast of Spain, Chief Brashear saw the bowline of the landing craft part. Realizing that a shipmate standing in the stern of the landing craft was in serious jeopardy if the heavily strained stern line also parted, he unhesitatingly pushed his shipmate to safety, but was seriously injured himself when the stress from the remaining line caused a portion of the craft to carry away and hit him in the leg. By his prompt and courageous actions in saving another man from injury or possible death, Chief Brashear, at the risk of his own life, upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.[13]
On October 24, 2007, the Newport News Fire Department dedicated a 33-foot (10 m) high-speed fireboat named Carl Brashear to be used by their Dive and Marine Incident Response Teams.[14]
On February 21, 2009, Nauticus, a science and maritime museum in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, opened a new exhibit called "Dream to Dive: The Life of Master Diver Carl Brashear."[19] It is the first full-scale museum exhibit dedicated to Brashear.
In 2009 the Chief Petty Officer Club onboard Naval Station Little Creek VA was renamed The Carl Brashear Center. Carl's son and several friends gave speeches at and attended the renaming ceremony. Carl was known to frequent the CPO Club onboard Little Creek up until the time of his death.[citation needed]
On November 9, 2017, the Commonwealth of Kentucky dedicated the "Carl M. Brashear Radcliff Veterans Center" in honor of BMCM (MDV) Carl Brashear.[20] Construction on the new center, which is located about 30 miles from Brashear's hometown of Sonora, was completed about a year before the dedication ceremony. On hand was his son Phillip, Founder of the Brashear Foundation, Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, Veterans Center Administrator Israel Ray, members of the Brashear family,[20] along with members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association who nominated and worked to collect over 7,000 signatures in support of naming the center after Brashear.
On July 25, 2018, Lincoln Parkway bridge, just outside Tonieville, KY was renamed the "Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Maxie Brashear Memorial Bridge."[21]
Brashear's Dress Uniform is on display at the Hardin County History Museum in Elizabethtown, Kentucky as part of the "We Were There" Military Tribute and Exhibit.[22]
Oris SA released the Oris Carl Brashear Cal. 401 Limited Edition dive watch to commemorate Brashear. [23]
^Fox, Margalit (July 27, 2006). "Carl M. Brashear, 75, Diver Who Broke a Racial Barrier, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2021. At 17, he tried to join the Army in early 1948, but the Army did not want him. The Navy was more welcoming, and he enlisted in February 1948. (The military would be officially desegregated in June of that year.)
