Men of Honor, The Story of Carl Brashear

<body bgcolor="#100060" link="#FF0000" vlink="#FFFFFF" alink="#FFFF00"> <div align="center"> <h1><font color=ffffff>Men of Honor, The Story of Carl Brashear</font></h1> <p><font size=1 color=ffffff>To view Men of Honor, Carl Brashear correctly, you need a Framesets enabled browser</font></p> <p><font SIZE="2"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="arial, helvetica">In February of 1948, the United States Armed Forces were segregated. When Carl Brashear, an African-American from Kentucky, first began his Naval career, he experienced the harsh reality of racial prejudice. President Truman soon issued an Executive Order requiring American military forces to integrate. Not long after, Carl Brashear set a goal for himself: To become the Navy's first African-American master diver. </font></p> <p><font color="#FFFFFF" face="arial, helvetica">It wasn't an easy journey from Naval recruit to master diver. Despite the ordered end to military segregation, Carl Brashear encountered many obstacles. He endured discrimination, failures and tragedies. He also achieved significant triumphs. Today he is one of only seven enlisted men who have been honored by the U.S. Naval Institute with an Oral History: The Reminiscences of Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Carl M. Brashear, U.S. Navy (Retired). </font></p> <center> <table border="0" width="580"> <tr> <td width="50%" valign="top" align="center"><font color="#FF0000" face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><b>GO TO</b></font><br> <a href="http://www.awesomestories.com"><font size=5>AWESOMESTORIES.COM</font> </a><br> <font color="#00FFFF" face="arial, helvetica"><b>To select from many stories</b></font> </td> <td width="50%" valign="middle" align="center"><font size="3" face="arial, helvetica" color="#00FFFF"><b>-Or-</b></font><font color="#00FFFF"><b><font size="3" face="arial, helvetica"><br> Go Directly to:</font></b></font><font size="2" color="#00FFFF"> </font><br> <b><font size="5" color="#FF0000"><a href="men_ch1.htm">Pearl Harbor</a></font></b> </td> </tr> </table> </center> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">This site uses Shockwave Flash Technology from Macromedia.</p> <p align="center"> </p> <p>Men of Honor Chapter One</p> <p>Before Carl Brashear became the U.S. Navy’s first black master diver, he used his incredible strength of will to ignore old rules so he could break new ground.</p> <p>Before he became the U.S. Navy’s only amputee master diver, he relied on innate courage so he could stare down death.</p> <p>Before he became one of only seven enlisted men whose oral histories are profiled by the U.S. Naval Institute, he had already inspired other men of honor and courage.</p> <p>This is the story of a man who rose above harsh and humble beginnings to excel in the most extraordinary ways. It is the story of a man who succeeded despite racial prejudice and physical limitations. It is the story of a man who believed in his dream - and made it happen.</p> <p>Men of Honor Chapter Two</p> <p>Carl Brashear was born in 1931 to sharecropping parents who lived in Kentucky. At the time, America’s black citizens were still repressed by restrictive "Jim Crow Laws." Carl’s life in that legally segregated society of Hardin County was a happy one because of his close-knit family. He was the sixth of eight children. Black children did not have educational opportunities equal to white students when Carl attended grade school in Sonora, Kentucky. The windows in his segregated, one-room school were broken and his books were used.</p> <p>As he and his siblings walked several miles to and from school, white children (riding the bus to their own school) passed them on the road. When Carl took a bus to the closest city, Elizabethtown, the law required him to sit in the back. Carl finished the eighth grade before he went to work on the farm his father sharecropped for Dr. Glasscock.</p> <p>Gonzella Brashear, Carl’s mother, also taught her children at home. A ninth-grade graduate, she taught her kids what they didn’t learn in school. She and McDonald, Carl’s father, provided a safe and happy environment for their family. As Carl recalls:</p> <p>We didn’t have electricity, didn’t have running water, but we were happy. We had a lot of love in our family, a lot of togetherness. The entertainment in the evening was my father telling jokes and playing with us and things of this nature. Religion was also an important part of young Carl’s life.</p> <p>I think our faith was what kept us going. Well, it played a big part. My great-uncle was a preacher, and there were a lot of deacons and preachers throughout the family.</p> <p>Carl stayed at home until he was 17. He thought joining the Navy would be a good thing for him. He was right, but he was about to find out why President Truman would soon issue Executive Order 9981 to end all segregation in the military.</p> <p>It was 1948, and Carl was assigned as a steward. So were the majority of other black naval recruits - as they had been throughout World War II. After completing his basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Carl was assigned to work at the Officers’ Mess at Experimental Squadron One in the segregated town of Key West, Florida.</p> <p>To view the rest of Men of Honor, you must have a FRAMESETS enabled browser</p> </body>