Stewart M. Brooks

Stewart M. Brooks was born in April 1923 in Sidney, New York, and became part of a military tradition in his family. One of his brothers enlisted in the Army Signal Corps and served in North Africa, and his other brother served in Europe in a tank destroyer battalion. Their grandfather and great-grandfather served in the Union Army in the Civil War, an uncle served in the Spanish American War and two other uncles served in World War l.

In the initial stages of World War Il, Brooks was studying Chemistry at Hamilton College in New York. At the age of 19, however, he enlisted in the Army Signal Corps in Binghamton, New York. Brooks was sent to an induction center at Fort Niagara, near Buffalo, New York, then went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he was quartered in a hotel and participated in boardwalk drill daily. On completion of his basic training, he went to Signal Electronics School in Kansas City, Missouri, where he studied radio maintenance. While at radio school, Brooks was taught to assemble a radio, starting with labeled components, and then test system operations. His class had sixty students, among whom were two members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this training, he met the nation’s First Lady, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who visited the school.

Brooks, along with eleven other members of his class, was selected to attend Radar School at Camp Murphy, Florida, from April to May 1943. After completing the course, he took a final exam, during which he had to troubleshoot and locate malfunctions within thirty minutes. Brooks then moved on to Drew Field in Florida to set up radar in the Everglades for training.

In December 1943, Brooks left Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts, to board the British ship Empress of Australia and sailed to Glasgow, Scotland. From Glasgow, he traveled by train to England, where he worked on a Royal Air Force early warning radar designed and invented by the British. Brooks was assigned to the 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion, a unit created on June 9, 1942, at Drew Field, Florida. The battalion nicknamed the “triple nickel” took part in the D-Day Invasion on 6 June 1944. The Headquarters Company of the 555th consisted of personnel who had, in civilian life, worked for the New England Telephone & Telegraph Company.

At midnight June 5, paratroopers dropped into Normandy. The infantry hit the beach at 0630 on June 6, and the 555th landed on Omaha Beach at 1600 hours. Brooks and his unit debarked from the landing craft into neck-deep water, then used ropes to guide themselves onto the beach. In Normandy, the 555th traveled from one farm to another, and then onto Mont Saint Michel, providing an early warning radar and direction-finding network to support tactical operations, as well as providing navigational aids to friendly aircraft.

Brooks spoke of his experiences in Belgium with German V-1 “buzz bombs” also known as doodle-bugs in 1944. There were hundreds launched each day, with speeds of 400 mph. The volume of fuel needed for these rockets was based on the drop location. Radar picked up the bombs’ launching sites and provided early warning. Over a thousand V-1s fell on Liege, Belgium and environs, but only three of these were missed by the radar. City inhabitants received a three-minute warning to find shelter, and no civilian lives were lost during this period. During and after the Battle of the Bulge, the early-warning radar would also be used to locate enemy aircraft.

Brooks was awarded medals for American, European-African-Middle Eastern Service, Good Conduct, and World War Il Victory. He was also cited in an April 5, 1945 Letter of Appreciation from the Governor of the Province of Liege, Belgium for providing early warning of approaching “buzz bombs” during the Battle of the Bulge. Also, upon crossing the English Channel, the 555th received a commendation from Brig. Gen. James W. McCauley for its role in identifying and reporting enemy aircraft, resulting in destruction of one ME-109 and dispersing the remainder of the flight with anti-aircraft artillery.

After the war, Brooks, who was discharged as a sergeant, attended and graduated from the Albany College of Pharmacy and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. He was employed teaching the medical sciences to student nurses at several hospitals, and, along the way, wrote 50 some books, including a Science textbook for nursing students.

Stewart Marshall Brooks died peacefully at home at the age of 90 on July 13, 2013.

Additional Resource:

• Books written by Stewart Marshall Brooks