(MILITARY WORLD WAR TWO) Program for a Brooks Memorial Volu

Sale 2663 - Lot 318

Unsold

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(MILITARY--WORLD WAR TWO.) Program for a Brooks Memorial Volunteers event in honor of the first American tank casualty of the war. [24] pages. Printed wrappers, 8½ x 5½ inches, loss to three corners without loss of text; minor wear to contents. No place, 19 December 1943

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Robert H. Brooks was the first member of the United States Armored Forces to be killed in World War Two. A light-skinned man of mixed race from Kentucky, he had managed to enlist in the all-white 192nd Tank Battalion. The unit arrived at Clark Field in the Philippines on 20 November 1941. Two weeks later, news reached the base of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Within hours, Clark Field was struck by a Japanese bombing raid. As Private Brooks ran toward his half-track tank, he was hit by a bomb and died instantly. Plans were already underway to memorialize Brooks as the war's first tank casualty when news reached the commanding general that Brooks was Black. He replied: "It does not matter whether or not Robert was Black, what mattered was that he had given his life for his country." In his honor, the Brooks Memorial Volunteers of Westchester were formed in Westchester County, NY on 19 February 1942. Their membership grew to 1200 as they sponsored care packages, entertainment, and veteran support.

Offered here is a program for their "All Star Benefit Review and Dance" held the following year, including a short history of Brooks and the volunteers, and numerous ads from dozens of local businesses, Black-owned and otherwise. Pianist Hazel Scott's Cafe Society took out a full-page ad on the rear wrapper. We find no other Brooks Memorial Volunteers items at auction or in OCLC.