"Lawrence Brooks, the United States’ oldest living World War II veteran, died Wednesday morning, according to his daughter and caregiver, Vanessa Brooks. The supercentenarian’s health was winding down, Vanessa Brooks confirmed to Military Times, and he was in and out of the local veterans’ hospital several times in recent months ― but he was still alert, enjoying the holidays and watching his beloved Saints play until the end. The son of sharecroppers, Brooks was one of fifteen children. He was born in 1909 just north of Baton Rouge in Norwood, Louisiana, and was raised just outside of Stephenson, Mississippi, a small sawmill town where his family moved for work during the Depression. The supercentenarian was drafted and entered the Army in 1940, serving in both Louisiana and Texas. He participated in the famed Louisiana Maneuvers, where 400,000 soldiers converged on the state for readiness exercises in response to Germany’s invasion of Poland and France. Brooks completed his obligatory one-year service, he previously told Military Times, was discharged and back at work in New Orleans in November 1941. A few weeks later, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he returned to the Army. “There was no question,” Brooks told the National World War II Museum in one of his many oral history interviews. “They just came right back and got me again.” www.armytimes.com/military-honor/salute-veterans/2022/01/05/oldest-us-world-war-ii-veteran-dies-at-112-in-new-orleans/?fbclid=IwAR0K_nW5kimUrR-s4VsqAU5yo1kSJUEswEGMYGdVhx_3p_cnVOP9T8XkP-A
