KEYSER - While most families were either celebrating or getting ready to celebrate Christmas on Friday night, one Keyser family was saying goodbye to a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, family patriarch and true American hero.
Mineral Daily News-Tribune
KEYSER - Not many people can say a group of veterans from all over the United States rode their bikes some 3,000 miles to honor them.
Clifton Brooks Sr., however, can not only say that, but he can also say family and friends joined those riders for a celebration unlike any other in recent memory in Keyser.
Brooks, 99 and a lifelong resident of Keyser, is a veteran of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and was active with them as a cryptographer during World War II. He is believed to be one of the few remaining Tuskegee Airmen alive today.
Barbara High
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER - The Patriots Pack will be arriving in Keyser Sunday, May 23, to honor city resident Clifton Brooks Sr. as one of the last remaining Tuskegee Airmen alive today.
Brooks, now 99, was part of the Tuskegee Airmen - the African-American military pilots and airmen who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps - during World War II. They formed the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group and the 477th Bombardment Group.
He will be honored by the group with a parade and an event where he will be awarded a citation and plaque.
According to John Brostrom, who along with Mike Stramaglio created the Patriots Pack, the riders will be leaving North Ridgeville, Ohio, and make the journey to Keyser to honor Mr. Brooks for being the hero that he is.