The story begs to be told. Tragic. Tender. Unbelievable.
Two boys.
The story as I understand it comes through the lips of a cloudy mind. After years of secrets and trauma it spills forth. It is spoken with sorrow and regret. And yet, the story, is of a divine design and speaks of a tender mercy and victory too. I have the vantage point of youth and the lens of faith.
My grandmother was a beautiful young woman from a large family. She was the youngest daughter and the object of much unrest between her sisters and mother. She fought incessantly with them and from what I can gather, regularly did just what she wanted to do.
It was in 1929 that she found herself unmarried and pregnant with my father. She would never say who the father was, speculation said he was married or famous, and when my dad was born, she walked out of the hospital, leaving him there. My great grandmother, though angered by her daughter’s behavior, marched down to the hospital and claimed the baby. He was christened in the Catholic Church, Robert Charles Brooks, and raised by a combination of family members. The whispers about my dad followed him all of his growing years. It was a shame he bore for his mother.
A few years later, 1935, my grandmother had another baby. Her mother refused to go and get this child. It was the depression. Not enough food to feed the family they had.
That child, my Uncle Richard, was sent to an orphanage, living either there or in various foster homes. My dad told me that he and his Aunt Bet would go to visit Rick every other weekend. Aunt Betty would tell Rick at every visit that his mother was going to come and get him soon. It tore my dad up. He knew this wasn’t true. Rick waited for every visit to be picked up to go to his ‘real family.’
The years drifted away. Robert was the golden child. Rick became a bitter and angry young man.
In the midst of college, 1950, studying to be a chemist, war in Korea raged. Robert joined the Marine Corps. Richard was 15 years old.
Robert lost touch with his little brother through these early years.
Rick was troubled and difficult. He went from foster home to foster home wearing out his welcome in each one. Finally he landed in the home of an Italian family who owned a delicatessen in New York. The first time Rick messed up, the dad took Rick aside and spoke to the deep need of his heart to be fathered. He told Rick that he had an opportunity to make something of himself, graduate high school and make himself proud. He could work for him in the shop and put aside some money for the future. He could either do that or he could go join the gangs on the street.
Something about the way that man spoke into Rick brought life. He straightened up, managed to finish school, fudged on his age and joined the Navy. The year was 1952.
In the military, Robert and Richard distinguished themselves right away.
Robert, in Korea, able to think with a clear head under fire, and able to lead when his superiors were killed in front of him, was promoted on the battlefield from Private to Corporal to Sergeant.
Rick, as a young sailor, quickly showed himself skilled in the mechanical function of the ship and rose in the ranks to a machinist’s mate.
Rick, said that he had nowhere to go and didn’t spend a dime. Every bit of money he got on payday, he began to invest.As he grew older, he would send a little money home to his Italian family. He built up quite a nest egg, from which he was able to pay off the debt on that delicatessen to say ‘thank you’ to that family who saved him.
During the Viet Nam conflict, Robert served through two tours, with multiple casualties and mishaps, leading valiantly, defending his country. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for meritorious service.
Richard also, almost simultaneously, was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in battle.
During the Six Day War, 1967, for defending the USS Liberty while under fire, Rick was awarded the Silver Star.
Through Korea, then Viet Nam, Richard and Robert never knew where the other was. They had not spoken since they were kids. This troubled Robert. I know that he searched for his brother, through family and friends for many years. Finally in 1972, through the Department of the Navy, he was able to locate him.
In the summer of 1972, we traveled to Virginia. For the first time in twenty two years, two brothers hugged and cried and remembered.
This began a relationship of healing and forgiveness. Both men were spiritual giants. They loved and served God with their whole hearts. They loved people. Gregarious and engaging, each of these gentlemen are remembered for their gentle, listening hearts, their extraordinary sense of humor and their ability to make the best of any situation.Though raised in different homes under different circumstances, they both possessed the character and integrity of righteous men. They lived many states apart yet made the time and space to visit each others’ homes and talk over the phone.
Their lives, though fraught with sorrow and pain, have brought forth such a richness. We are a generation who can reap the blessing.
After my father died, I spoke at length with my Uncle Rick. I became so excited about the similarities in these men. The way God had protected them and the way He had lifted them up out of shame and darkness to exalt them and award their character and integrity is just so amazing to me! Even the miraculous way my dad found Rick! And I absolutely believe that in spite of the seeming ‘weapons formed against’ Richard, they did NOT prosper. He was placed in just the right home at just the right time to save him from sin and destruction. Though both men were born into poverty, they both invested into God’s Kingdom and became rich, not just in the wealth of this world, but in heavenly wealth as well!
Well done! Good and Faithful Servants!
