Voting Station

Carl Brashear

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Hero

The Resume

    (January 19, 1931-July 25, 2006)
    Born in Tonieville, Kentucky
    Middle name was Maxie
    First black Master Diver in the history of the United States Navy
    Famous for heroism in the Palomares B-52 crash incident (January 1966)
    Lost his leg during bomb recovery operations (March 23, 1996)
    Portrayed by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the 2006 film ‘Men of Honor’

Why he might be annoying:

    He married and divorced three times.
    His superiors tried to get him to retire and he wouldn’t.
    The film about his life presents a fictionalized version of events (for instance, he was not dragged underwater by an enemy submarine, nor was there one underwater at all when he was working to recover the nuclear bomb).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was the child of sharecroppers.
    He joined the Navy four months before the military was desegregated by President Truman.
    He faced racism and threats from fellow divers during basic training.
    He was the first African-American to attend and graduate from the Diving & Salvage School.
    He rose to the position of Master Diver, despite having had his left leg amputated four years earlier in 1966.
    He served as a civilian employee for the Naval Station in Norfolk and retired in 1993 with the grade of GS-11.
    His grand-nephew is NHL player Donald Brashear.
    He received an Outstanding Public Service Award for 42 years of combined military and federal civilian service in October 2000.

Credit: BoyWithTheGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2023, as of last week, Out of 9 Votes: 11.11% Annoying