Robert Harold Brooks (October 8, 1915 – December 8, 1941) was a United States Army soldier.
He was the first Army Armored Branch casualty of World War II, being killed on the island of Luzon within hours of the Japanese surprise attack against the United States.
[b] He was trained at Fort Knox and qualified as a half-track and tank driver, but was assigned to maintenance following specialized instruction.
[1] As a light-skinned Black man, he was officially classified as White, allowing him to join the all-White D Company, 192nd Tank Battalion, known as the Harrodsburg Tankers after the Kentucky town they were stationed in as a National Guard unit.
"[3] On December 23, 1941, six generals and eighty other officers, along with Brooks's parents, commemorated him during the naming ceremony.