Carl Brashear, the US Navy diver made famous by the 2000 movie Men of Honour, has died, aged 75.
Brashear was the US Navy’s first black diver, and the first US Navy diver to return to full active duty as an amputee.
Brashear joined up in 1948 – a challenge so soon after the US military’s desegregation. He qualified as a diver in 1954 but lost his lower left leg after an underwater accident in 1966.
He fought back to a fitness level sufficient to return as a diver, and qualified as a US Navy Master Diver in 1970.
Retiring from the Navy in 1979, he joined a select band in being honoured by a major naval archives volume documenting his life and career.
