Remembering My Grandfather

My grandfather Edward Joseph Brook lived in Glendale, California just out side of LA just before the war. He had a wife, Eva Jane (Anderson) Brook and they had two children: Charlene the oldest at 12 or so and Little Eddie at about 5. They lived in a Stucco home (still exists today) close to Herbert Hoover High school were Ed worked for the County of LA as a Civil Engineer and Eva raised the children and was involved with numerous social clubs and was an strong swimmer at the YMCA.

When the “Japs” bombed Pearl Harbor, he enlisted with the Navy and felt that with his engineering work experience and his education from the Colorado School of Mines, he could be used in the "Sea Bee's" the construction battalion of the Navy. He one told my grandmother that "it would be difficult for me to actually kill someone on the other side but if I had to I would. I could contribute better by building a bridge or something like that to help win the war."

He was quickly moved to an officer and at the end of his training in the East got his commission. For the first part of his commission he was on a ship in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic were the German U-boats were sinking US Ships at an alarming rate. These submarines were called “Wolfe-packs” and would sneak up on any ship and sink it quickly then disappear leaving all to die in the bitterly cold Atlantic waters.

The second portrait was taken in Iceland and you can notice were EJB had lost quite a bit of weight as a result of the constant pressure of war and the possibility of being killed at any moment.

Ed went on to serve in Iceland and spent the next few years, including holidays, building a strategic fuel complex for the allies. He was involved in the invasion of Normandy and stayed in Plymouth, England for several months. He spent time in Niece, France then Paris building various fuel and supply complexes.

After a well deserved break back in California he was assigned to the Pacific were he was waiting for an all out assault on Japan when the war ended.

He went home to a loving wife and a older daughter and son and so much had changed after the war. He did not want to return to LA County as an Engineer or even a Supervisor and felt it was a time to make some kind of career change.

The family eventually moved to Texas in the late 40's and Ed started a new late career as an oil company executive during the 1950's. He retired in the early 60's where he purchased a Cattle Ranch and spent much time with his 5 grandchildren. They sold the ranch in the mid 1970's when the cost of raising cattle became too great to make a profit.

Ed eventually died in late 1982 and Eva went on and lived until the early 1990's.

Hollywood Portrait

Lt. Commander after Europe

Pacific Island Sign

Iceland Portrait

In the Philippines with Native