Inspiration for 'Men of Honor' dies

[Canuck_Buck]

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- Carl M. Brashear, the first black U.S. Navy diver who was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2000 film "Men of Honor," died Tuesday. He was 75.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/25/brashear.obit.ap/index.html

"The African-American community lost a great leader today in Carl Brashear," Gooding said of the man he played alongside Robert DeNiro, who was Brashear's roughneck training officer in "Men of Honor." "His impact to us as a people and all races will be felt for many decades to come."

Amen.

[Tazman]

He was a mans man, who truly opened doors for many blacks in the military, may he rest in peace. This quote says an awful lot about him as a man.

"Sometimes I would come back from a run, and my artificial leg would have a puddle of blood from my stump. I wouldn't go to sick bay because they would have taken me out of the program," Brashear said in 2002 when he was inducted into the Gallery of Great Black Kentuckians. "Instead, I'd go hide somewhere and soak my leg in a bucket of hot water with salt in it -- that's an old remedy I learned growing up."

[Lanse couche couche]

Okay, there's gotta be at least one or two folks who want to claim that Brashear's accomplishments have been overblown because he is black. So, go ahead and get it off your chests.

[Tazman]

There is no way his accomplishments were overblown, if anything his 2 greatest accomplishments were first overcoming the racism in the military at the time and then of course coming back after the amputation.