Kentuckian Carl Brashear, first black Navy diver, dies

Film 'Men of Honor' based on his life
(KENTUCKY JOURNAL 26 JULY 2006)… Michael Felberbaum
RICHMOND, Va. — Carl M. Brashear, a Kentucky native and the first black U.S. Navy diver, died yesterday. He was 75.
Brashear, who was born and raised in Sonora, was the inspiration for the 2000 film "Men of Honor," in which Cuba Gooding Jr. portrayed him and starred alongside Robert De Niro.
Brashear died at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth of respiratory and heart failure, the medical center said.
Brashear retired from the Navy in 1979 after more than 30 years of service. He was the first Navy diver to be restored to full active duty as an amputee.
In 1966, Brashear was tasked with recovering a hydrogen bomb that dropped into waters off Spain when two U.S. Air Force planes collided.
During the mission, Brashear was struck below his left knee by a pipe. He was airlifted to a naval hospital and had the bottom of his left leg amputated. It was replaced with a prosthetic.
The Navy was ready to retire Brashear from active duty, but he began a grueling training program that included diving, running and calisthenics.
"Sometimes I would come back from a run, and my artificial leg would have a puddle of blood from my stump. I wouldn't go to sick bay because they would have taken me out of the program," Brashear said in 2002 when he was inducted into the Gallery of Great Black Kentuckians.
"Instead I'd go hide somewhere and soak my leg in a bucket of hot water with salt in it -- that's an old remedy I learned growing up."
After completing 600- to 1,000-foot dives while being evaluated for five weeks at the Experimental Diving Unit in Washington, D.C., Brashear became a master diver in 1970.
He faced an uphill battle when he joined the Navy in 1948 at age 17, not long after the U.S. military desegregated.
"I went to the Army office, and they weren't too friendly," Brashear said in 2002. "But the Navy recruiter was a lot nicer. Looking back, I was placed in my calling.
"Growing up on a farm in Kentucky, I always dreamed of doing something challenging. When I saw the divers for the first time, I knew it was just what I wanted."
In 1954, he was accepted and graduated from the diving program, despite daily battles with discrimination.
"Hate notes were left on my bunk. People just weren't ready for a segregated Navy; they didn't want me to make it through the program," he said.
He went on to train for advanced diving programs before his 1966 accident.
Brashear married childhood friend Junetta Wilcox in 1952, and they had four children -- Shazanta, DaWayne, Phillip and Patrick -- before their divorce in 1978. He later married Hattie R. Elam and Jeanette A. Brundage.
The family has not made funeral arrangements

Minnesota Morning

This is what early morning in Minnesota is all about.

Final Salute

In 2003, when I was selected for the rank of E7, Chief Petty Officer, in the United States Navy, part of my training included the policies and procedures of the Casualty Assistance Call Officer, or CACO.
I learned the process, the steps, the timing and some of the suggestions. Then forgot about it. Today a friend sent an article, linked above, that I think everyone should read. Not just the people that might someday have to knock on Shipmate's door like me, everyone.

Final Salute

It made me think about the people in my unit that are currently serving overseas. It made me think about people from communities all over this country that are serving all over the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But most of all, it made me think.

Get on the Registry - Marrow Donor Registry

I got this email today from the NMDP, National Marrow Donor Program. A few years back the company I worked for paid for the tissue typing test, an extra couple vials of blood during a donation and I got on the registry. A couple years later I ended up donating Marrow for a 13 year old boy that needed a transplant. If you give blood regularly, you are the kind of person that should get on the registry. If you don't give blood regularly, why not? (The tissue typing is done now with a cheek-swab, so you don't get to use that "I'm afraid of needles." excuse anymore.)

The NMDP introduces the option of joining the Registry online.

It's this easy:

Visit www.marrow.org/HELP/join_now.html.

Review donor eligibility requirements.

Complete and return the registration form to order a tissue typing kit, along with a payment of $52 to cover tissue typing costs.

Receive by mail a simple, do-it-yourself tissue testing kit. The kit includes everything needed to collect cheek cells using cotton swabs and return for tissue testing. The results of the test will be added to the Registry.

Those who prefer to join at a drive can find the location nearest them, where they'd have the option to Join in Person.

Meebo

If you are looking for a good HTML Instant Messanger Client, here it is. It's web based, so you don't have to install anything. It works with MSN, googleChat, Yahoo and other Jabber based IM systems. They add new functionality all the time. Haven't quite figured out how they ever expect to make any money though, but as long as it is free, I'll keep using it.