1st Lt.Brooks was in the U.S. Army Air Forces 327th Bomber Squadron, 92nd Bomber Group, Heavy, # O-437931. After flying 4 missions with the 91st, he was temporarily attached to the 91st Group for combat training.



Brought down 22 March 1943 in B-17 #4229659 'Liberty Bell. ' Plane crashed into North Sea. Killed in Action (KIA). The assigned target was Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The plane was on its first mission being flown by 7 members of the 92nd BG/ 327th BS and 3 from the 91st BG. On its return from the mission, the aircraft was hit by bomb dropped from above by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 (Me 109) flown by Oberleutnant Heinz Knoke, and crashed into the North Sea 20 miles west of Heligoland with all ten crewman killed in action (KIA). In this action, Knoke thus became the first of only a few fighter pilots to successfully destroy an enemy aircraft by "bombing the bombers" (an experimental tactic that was soon abandoned by the Luftwaffe).



Air Medal, Purple Heart