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Major General Harry W. Brooks, Jr. [USA.Ret.]
Commander, Army 25th Infantry Division
Retired Major General Harry W. Brooks, Jr. was born May 17, 1928
in segregated Indianapolis, Indiana. A good student, he attended
P.S. 42, P.S. 87 and Crispus Attucks High School, graduating in
1947 as an officer in the ROTC. Joining the United States Army
as a private, Brooks soon rose to sergeant and used the
provisions of the G.I. Bill to attend college. Noticed because
of his baseball prowess, he was invited to Officer Candidates
School (OCS) and received his commission as a second lieutenant
in 1949. Brooks went on to obtain his B.A. degree from the
University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1962 and an M.A. degree from
the University of Oklahoma in 1973. He also completed the
Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program.
Becoming an officer during the U.S. Army's desegregation
efforts, Brooks served in Japan with a logistics command in
support of Korea. Serving in Germany as an artillery officer,
Brooks also served a tour in Viet Nam. His subordinate officers
included Colin Powell. While attending the United States War
College from 1969 to 1970, he coauthored The Gathering Storm: An
Analysis of Racial Instability Within the Army. Appointed Army
Director of Equal Opportunity Programs at the Pentagon in 1972,
Brooks was promoted to Major General in 1974 as the 6th African
American General in United States history. As the commanding
general of the famed 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, Brooks
was responsible for 16,000 men and for ordering 10,000 of them
to return to school for high school and associate degrees.
His decorations include: the Distinguished Service Medal, the
Meritorious Service Medal, two Legion of Merit Medals, two
Bronze Star Medals, and seven Air Medals. Awards from NAACP and
Kiwanis recognize Brooks volunteer activities.
After retirement in 1976, Brooks became executive vice president
of Amfac, Inc. He then founded, with some of his friends,
Advanced Consumer Marketing Corporation, which was heralded as
the Department of Commerce Minority Business Enterprise of the
Year in 1989 and the Black Enterprise Company of the Year in
1990. Married with four adult sons, Brooks is currently chairman
of Brooks International and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
More information about Major General Harry Brooks
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