WWII veteran stays busy

Gunner’s Mate Second Class Charles Brooking salutes during the Independence Day parade in Wyomissing on Thursday. He served on a PT boat in World War II and recently participated in the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

At 97, World War II veteran Charlie Brooking is a busy man.

The Luzerne County man participated in the Fourth of July Independence Day parade in Wyomissing on Thursday.

But the trip to Berks County for Independence Day is nothing compared to the trip he took last month when he visited the beaches of Normandy, France, for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

“It almost brought tears to your eyes, being on all those beaches. You could almost imagine what was going on when they came ashore on D-Day,” Brooking recalled last week during a “Charlie Brooking Day” event at the Berwick Theater and Center for Community Arts in Columbia County.

The theater welcomed Brooking as a special guest before a screening of the 1963 film “PT 109,” about the sinking of the torpedo boat of future President John F. Kennedy, a naval officer in World War II.

Brooking, a native of Bloomsburg, served as a gunner’s mate on a .50-caliber machine gun on a PT boat in the Pacific and helped search for Kennedy and his crew.

During his day in Berwick, Brooking wore his original Marine uniform and sat at a table filled with his old military photos and memorabilia and photos from his visit to Normandy. He proudly held up canisters of sand he had picked up from the beaches of Omaha and Utah.

“They gave us empty jars and when we were on the beaches we filled them with sand,” Brooking recalled.

Brooking traveled to Normandy with about 60 other World War II veterans from across the country on a trip sponsored by American Airlines.

He met with Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro and the two spoke for about half an hour. Del Toro presented Brooking with a Navy challenge coin.

“It was a once in a lifetime experience,” Brooking said. “The people of France loved us. There were American flags everywhere.”

Brooking joined the Navy in 1943 at the age of 17. After the war, he lived temporarily in California and then returned to Bloomsburg, where he married his wife Ruth Dorothy, better known as “Dottie.”

They both worked at Henrie’s Printing in Bloomsburg and for many years ran a restaurant in town called simply the Sandwich Shop.

“We were married for 70 years, seven months and 12 days,” Brooking said. “I lost her on Mother’s Day in 2019.”

After his wife’s death, Brooking moved to live with his daughter-in-law Christine Grendzinski in the Pond Hill section of Conyngham Township.

Grendzinski, an Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm, joined him last week in Charlie Brooking Day in Berwick.

“I think it’s wonderful. It’s a great honor for him,” said Grendzinski. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but he read in the newspaper that they were planning a day for him.”

Columbia County Commissioner Dave Kovach was one of those who helped organize the tribute for Brooking.

“We are just honored to have an American hero with us,” Kovach said.

Brooking participated in the Fourth of July parade in Wyomissing after developing a relationship with Tyler Boland, 20, of Sinking Spring, an Albright College student whose “Keeping History Alive” project collects stories from veterans and raises awareness of their stories.

Brooking said he was excited to participate.

“The Fourth of July is more than just fireworks,” Brooking said. “It’s a day for people to show their patriotism and be grateful to be Americans.”