Harold Brooks

Harold Don Brooks died on July 5, 2022 at the Lamun-Lusk-Sanchez Texas State Veterans Home in Big Spring, Texas.  He was born on August 10, 1930 in Moran, Texas to Claude C. Brooks and Irma Garrett Brooks.  The family moved to Midland in 1944, where he attended junior high school and later to McCamey where he attended senior high.

When he was a month from being 18 years old, Don joined the Marine Corps.  After basic training at San Diego, California, he was sent to Barstow, California where he served as a firefighter.  When the Korean War started he went back to Camp Pendleton for a couple weeks combat training and then off to Korea.  Their first duty was to take back South Korea from  North Korea, where he received a gun shot wound to the shoulder.   After recovering in Japan, he went back to Korea and rejoined George Company in time to be transported to the Chosin Reservoir which borders North Korea and Manchuria.  The attack of over 100,000 Chinese on the 10,000 American and British forces there was so horrible; he would not talk about it for a long time and blocked much of it out of his mind.   He received severe frostbite from the minus 30 degree temperature and was flown from the Reservoir back to Japan and then to the States to recover.

When his enlistment was up, Don reenlisted in the Marine Corps to continue his service in various places including Washington D.C.,  different posts in the States, and one of his favorite assignments was a guard at the consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.  He served in the State Department where he was assigned guard duty at the Big Three Conference in Paris, France, and at the Big Four Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.  Don was honorably discharged at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, after ten years of service.  His numerous medals include Purple Heart, Good Conduct, Rifle Sharp Shooter, National Defense for Korean Service Medal, United Nations Republic of Korea Appreciation Medal and Ambassador for Peace awarded by the Korean Government.  He said the one he is most proud of is the Good Conduct Medal.  Serving in the military may have been a family tradition as many of his relatives served all the way back to the Civil War when his great grandfather served his country.

Don would not talk much about his time  in Korea until about 1975 when a friend of his attended a reunion of Chosin  Reservoir survivors and encouraged him to get involved.  He began to open up after meetings with them and made many new friends from all over the United States.

After Don’s discharge from the Marines, he returned to Midland and began working for the U.S. Postal Service.  He married Yvonne King in 1962.  He retired from the Postal Service in 1985. Don was a member of the Church of Christ.

Don is survived by his wife, Yvonne, two sons; Kenneth of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and  Kelly of Austin, Texas, two grandsons Geoffrey Brooks of Austin and Oliver Brooks of Lubbock, Texas, brothers-in-law Thomas King and wife Suzie of Andrews and Dwayne King and wife Joanna King of Rogers, Texas.  Don also is survived by several nieces and nephews.  He is preceeded in death by his parents, sister Virginia and brother Kent.

Visitation with the family will be at Nalley-Pickle Welch Funeral Home on Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.  Memorial services will be Saturday at 2:00 PM at the funeral home with Tim Baugh officiating.  Since Don is being cremated, the family requests instead of flowers please make a donation in his name to your favorite charity.  Inurnment will be at a later date in Moran, Texas.

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