





"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. In that year, if I had gone to sick bay, they would have written me up. I didn't go to sick bay. I'd go somewhere and hide and soak my leg in a bucket of hot water with salt in it--an old remedy. Then I'd get up the next morning and run." - Carl Brashear







Brashear running with an artificial leg

(click image to enlarge)

Questioning the Story:

- Complete Oral History of Carl Brashear, U.S. Naval Institute





Just how bad was Carl Brashear's leg?



The corpsmen on the ship placed two tourniquets on Brashear's leg to try and stop the bleeding

. They didn't work very well at first because Brashear was in such good physical condition and his leg was such a mass of muscle, a corpsman said later in an interview. The lower part of Brashear's leg was not torn off by the accident. He instead suffered several compound fractures of both bones in the lower leg.



In the following excerpt from

the U.S. Naval Institute's oral history of Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Carl M. Brashear

Carl said the following about the condition of his leg shortly after the accident:

Then they were going to piece my leg back on and do plastic surgery. Well, they were going to make my leg three inches shorter than the other leg. When they took the bandage off, my foot fell off. So they tried again, and it would fall off. It got gangrene and got infected. Well, I was slowly dying from that. So they transferred me up to Wiesbaden, Germany. There the doctor said that he could fix me, but it would take three years and could have me walking on a brace. So I raised all sorts of hell in that hospital.

So he said, "Well, do you want to be air-mailed out to the States?" That's the term he used. He said, "Do you want to be air-mailed out to the States?"

I said, "Yes, sir! Air-mail me out of here!"

- Complete Oral history of Carl Brashear, U.S. Naval Institute



Why did Brashear eventually choose amputation over trying to save his leg?

After several attempts by surgeons to save Brashear's leg, persistent infection and necrosis plagued the leg. He convinced them to amputate for this reason, and because he was told that it could take several years to fix the leg. In his oral history, he describes the amputation as follows:



"So they did a guillotine-type of operation, just chopped it off, cleared up the infection. A while later he said, "We didn't go high enough. We need to cut off another inch and a half." So they cut off an inch and a half to make sure they got it, and veed it out and sewed it up. This was in July 1966." - Carl Brashear



Brashear after the amputation wearing the Navy

and Marine Corps Medal for heroism in saving

lives. (click image to enlarge)



What type of tests did Carl Brashear have to pass in order to remain an active U.S. Navy diver?



Carl Brashear had to pass a variety of strenuous physical examinations. One exam involved climbing a ladder with a set of weights strapped to his back equivalent to the weight of two scuba tanks. Eventually, after prolonged tests and diving exercises, Carl was put back on active duty. He stayed on active duty for 12 more years, and in 1970 Carl became the first black US Navy master diver.



click image to enlarge



Did Carl Brashear really split up with his wife as the movie implies?

Yes. He and Junetta Wilcoxson divorced in 1978 after a 26-year marriage. In the years to follow, Carl Brashear remarried twice, but divorced each time. The last marriage ended in 1987.





Carl Brashear Interview Footage, Audio, and Photo Montage:

In this school project, several students offer an honest look at the real Carl Brashear's life, which is portrayed onscreen by Cuba Gooding Jr. Watch video, see photos and listen to him speak about his life as a Navy diver.







Carl Brashear Related Images:







(Click Image to Enlarge)



Pictured left is Carl Brashear and Cuba Gooding Jr. on the set of 20th Century Fox's Men of Honor. Carl served as a technical advisor on the film.

(Click Image to Enlarge) Pictured left is a modern day U.S. Navy diver from Mobile Diving Salvage Unit Two. The divers prepared on the deck of the USS Grapple (ARS 53) to dive on the crash site of Swissair Flight 111 off the coast of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, on Sept. 13, 1998. U.S. and Canadian forces worked together in the retrieval of victims and aircraft debris from the crash site.