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ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. – The son of the U.S. Navy’s first African-American master diver gave the keynote presentation at a National African-American History Month Observance here Feb. 14.
Phillip Brashear, an Army helicopter pilot, reflected on the legacy of his father, the late Carl Brashear.
“What I would like to share with you today is that my father achieved many things in his life,” Brashear said. “I think one of the most motivational things he’s ever done was to never give up in the face of obstacles. That’s a lesson we can all learn from.”
Carl Brashear was born in Tonieville, Kentucky, in 1931. Despite growing up on a sharecropper’s farm with no electricity or running water, Carl’s family made the best of things and maintained a happy home life.
In 1948, with just an eighth-grade education, Carl enlisted in the Navy and immediately took an interest in diving. Not only was diving dangerous work, it required physical stamina to wear the Mark V Deep Sea Helium Suit, which weighed nearly 300 lbs. Despite the reluctance of Carl’s commanding officer to allow an African American to train as a diver, Carl convinced him to grant access to the diving pool.
Overcoming constant racial prejudice and even threats from white Sailors, Carl qualified as a diver and began his pursuit of his newly found dream: to become a master diver, the highest diving qualification in the Navy.
In January 1966, a disaster struck that threatened to cut short Carl’s Navy career. While salvaging an atomic bomb off the coast of Spain, a pipe aboard Carl’s ship broke. As Carl cleared other Sailors out of danger, the pipe flew across the deck and hit him in the knee. The injury nearly killed him. Months of operations and recurring infections forced Carl to request an amputation four inches below the knee.
Carl received a prosthetic leg that November. To convince the Navy medical review board not to discharge him, Carl sneaked into a diving rig and photographed himself on a dive. In March of 1968, Carl returned to full diving status.
But just being the Navy’s first amputee diver was not enough for Carl. In 1970, 22 years after he first enlisted, Carl earned his qualification as a master diver.
Though Carl could have taken an easier path at any time, he insisted on achieving his dream. In 1979, after serving for 31 years, Carl retired as a master chief petty officer.
During his military service, Carl earned his GED diploma. After retiring, he completed a degree in environmental science and embarked on a career as a government engineering technician and environmental protection specialist.
Phillip, who deployed to Iraq in 2005 with his Army National Guard unit, returned home on emergency leave to be with his father when he passed away in 2006 at the age of 75.
“Today I share with you a life lesson my father taught me,” Phillip said. “Always be prepared, always be ready, never be a burden to your family.”
Phillip faced a challenge of his own during a routine physical exam in 2014. The doctor diagnosed him with a heart condition that, if uncorrected, threatened to end his career.
Not so easily defeated, Phillip met with Dr. Michael Spooner, who had also worked as his father’s cardiologist. Spooner determined Phillip to be fit enough for cardioversion treatment. Eight months later, Phillip underwent the procedure, and it successfully returned his heartrate to normal.
“Less than 14 months later, I was back in the cockpit,” Phillip said. “Just like my father before me, who lost a leg and had to prove to the Navy he could be a diver again – I had to go through stress tests… and prove to the Army that I could fly helicopters. I’m bought and sold. My dad’s story is for real. Not only did my dad endure that, but I endured that. This past weekend I was flying a Chinook helicopter, just three years after thinking my career was going to be done.”
Maj. Gen. Edward Daly, commanding general of the Army Sustainment Command, which hosted the event, grew up in Jersey City, near the Navy Salvage Diving School in Bayonne, New Jersey.
“I literally used to walk to the Bayonne Ocean Terminal and see the exact location where [Carl Brashear] trained,” Daly said. “We will never, ever forget how much of an American hero that man was.”
| Date Taken: | 02.21.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 02.21.2017 11:08 |
| Story ID: | 224172 |
| Location: | ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 159 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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