This Military Service Page was created/owned by
A1C Sarah Kimball
to remember
Brooks, John Bernard, Maj Gen USAF(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Greenwich, NY
Date of Passing Dec 31, 1975
Location of Interment Greenwich Cemetery - Greenwich, New York
Wall/Plot Coordinates Not Specified
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Retired Oct. 1, 1946.
John Bernard Brooks was born in Greenwich, N.Y., in 1891. He attended St. John's School at Manlius, N.Y. After graduating in November 1912, he was appointed a second lieutenant of Cavalry.
His was first assignment to Fort Ethan Allen, Vt., and then to border patrol duty until October 1915. While attached to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps he was sent to San Diego, Calif., for flight training. In 1916, he accompanied General Pershing's Punitive Expedition into Mexico as a member of the 1st Aero Squadron. In early 1917, he accompanied the 6th Aero Squadron to Hawaii. In November 1917, he returned to the United States for duty in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Washington, D.C. In January 1918, he was ordered to duty at Call Field, Wichita Falls, Texas, and three months later to Scott Field, Ill. In November 1918, he went to Henry J. Domm Field, N.Y., and then commanded the School for Flying Instructors at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas.
He became Air Officer of the Hawaiian Department and later Commanding Officer of Luke Field. On his return from Hawaii, he served as Air Officer of the Third Corps Area. In October 1923, he was assigned as a student officer at the Air Service Tactical School, Langley Field, Va., where he graduated in June 1924. He then attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and graduated in June 1925. From Fort Leavenworth, he was assigned to duty as Post Operations Officer, Mitchell Field, N.Y., where he served during the ensuing year.
In August 1926, General Brooks attended the Army War College, Washington, D.C., graduating in June 1927. He then was detailed as a member of the War Department General Staff. In 1930, he went to the Philippines as Commanding Officer of Clark Field, and later of Nichols Field. When he returned in 1933, he was again detailed as a member of the War Department General Staff, Washington, D.C., where he served until August 1937. Later he was assigned to command the Primary Flying School at Randolph Field, Texas. In October 1940, he was designated as a Wing Commander in the Air Corps. In December 1940, he was assigned to command the 4th Bombardment Wing, Westover Field, Chicopee Falls, Mass., and in July 1941 was assigned to the 2nd Air Force at Fort George Wright, Wash. In September 1941, he was made Commander of the 2nd Bomber Command at Fort George Wright.
In July 1942, he became the Commanding General of the 2nd Air Support Command, Colorado Springs, Colo. In November 1942, he was given an unannounced overseas assignment and later became Commanding General of the Newfoundland Base Command.
In October 1944, he was assigned to headquarters. Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C., and in February 1945 was given additional duty as a member of the Sub-Committee of the State War-Navy Coordinating Committee on Pacific and Far Eastern Areas at the same station. In June 1945, he assumed command of the Eleventh Air Force in Alaska, and in October 1945 was assigned to Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C.
General Brooks' decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal.
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
First Lieutenant June 7, 1916
Captain May 15, 1917
Major July 1, 1920
Lieutenant Colonel Aug. 1, 1935
Colonel (temporary) Jan. 1, 1939
Brigadier General (temporary) Oct. 24, 1940
Major General (temporary) March 11, 1943
(Up to date as of November 1945)
Other Comments:
1930
- 1933
Commanding Officer of Clark Field, Luzon and later, Commanding Officer of Nichols Field, Luzon
1933
- 1937
Member of the War Department General Staff, Washington, D.C.
1937
- 1940
Commanding Officer of the Air Corps Primary Flying School, Randolph Field, Texas
1940
- 1941
Commanding General of the 4th Bombardment Wing, Westover Field, Massachusetts
1941
- 1942
Commanding General of the II Bomber Command, Fort George Wright, Washington
1941
- 1942
Additional duty as Commanding General of the Second Air Force, Fort George Wright, Washington
1942
Additional duty as Command Inspector, Second Air Force, Fort George Wright, Washington
1942
Commanding General of the II Ground Air Support Command, Reno, Nevada; from 00.07.1942, Colorado Springs, Colorado
1943
- 1944
Commanding General of the Newfoundland Base Command, Fort Pepperell, Newfoundland
1944
- 1945
Member of the Combined Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C.
1945
Commanding General of the Eleventh Air Force, Adak, Alaska
1945
Commanding General of the Alaskan Air Command, Adak, Alaska
1946
Retired (disability in line of duty)
Source: The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ)
Thursday, January 1, 1976
Section B, Page 2, Column 1
"Pioneer Military Flier Dies Here" John B. Brooks, 84, one of the last of the U.S. Cavalry officers and among the first to fly in the military service, died here yesterday. He had retired in 1946 with the rank of major general.
Brooks spent much of his retirement in Tucson and attributed his physical fitness to swimming a half mile a day. He died in Davis-Monthan AFB Hospital from natural causes, an Air Force spokesman said.
A veteran of 34 years in the service, Brooks entered the Army in 1912 and a year later was assigned to Ft. Huachuca, from where he took part in U.S.-Mexico border patrols. He was in Naco in 1914 when the town was virtually surrounded by Mexican troops. Several U.S. Cavalry soldiers were wounded in fighting there.
Answering a call for 30 unmarried volunteers for aviation duty, Brooks joined the aviation section of the Signal Corps in 1915 and took flight training at North Island, San Diego. He is believed to have been the only survivor of the original 34 officers who made up the corps' First Aero Squadron.
One of the 34 was Carl Spaatz, first Air Force chief of staff.
In 1917 Brooks took the first air squadron to Hawaii to arrange for a site for Army and Navy aviation training and patrol. He chose Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Records show he piloted the first round-trip flight between Oahu and Hilo. He also is credited with the first non-stop flight to the islands from Oakland, Calif., in a Fokker tri-motor. That was in 1927, the year Col. Charles Lindberg made his historic Atlantic Flight to Paris.
Brooks was the first commanding officer of Call Field, Wichita Falls, Texas, and later commanded Scott Field, Belleville, Ill.
Near the close of World War I, Brooks was instrumental in changing the Army's method of flight training from the "stage system" to one by which a cadet took his entire primary training under one instructor.
He graduated from the Air Service Technical School in 1924, the command and General Staff School in 1925 and the Army War College in 1927.
Following service with the War Dept. General Staff, Brooks was assigned to the Phillippines as commander of Clark Field until 1933, when he returned to the General Staff. In 1937 he was named commander of Randolph Field, Texas, site of the Air Corps Primary Field School.
During World War II he commanded the Second Bomber Command, Fort George Wright, Wash., and the Second Group Air Support Command, Colorado Springs. In 1942 he headed the Newfoundland Base Command, and returned to the U.S. in 1944. He was later named senior Air Force member of the Joint Post-War Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which wrote the Japanese surrender terms.
His last command was Task Force 90, headquartered at Adak in the Aleutian chain. From there he led the final raid of the war on the Kurile Islands.
His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Distinguished Service Medal.
He is survived by his wife, Helen Crosby Brooks, Tucson; and a son, John Mahan Brooks, retired Army colonel and director of admissions at the University of Kansas.
Private funeral services are being arranged by the Adair Funeral Home.
