GLEN ROCK HISTORICAL & PRESERVATION SOCIETY, INC.
DAVID W. BROOKS
Branch of Service: Army
Rank: Specialist, fourth class
Service years: 1967-1968
Honors earned: Purple Heart
Glen Rock: Glen Rock on Rock Road, graduated from GRHS
David was born in 1945 to Mr. and Mrs. Frederck Brooks, he was their only child. He grew up on Gaynor Place in Glen Rock and played soccer and basketball for Glen Rock High School. And, according to his teammates, he was an excellent leader to the younger players on his squad. He was an active member of the Young People's Fellowship of All Saints Church and attended Williams College until he entered the U.S. Army in 1968.
SP4 David W. Brooks and PFC James R. Springer were infantrymen assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion Mechanized, 5th Infantry. On the morning of November 7, 1968, the B/1/5th was conducting a sweep of Highway 14 in Binh Duong Province, in the Republic of Vietnam. They reported to their headquarters the destruction of an anti-tank mine south of Dau Tieng as the company cleared the road to Thanh An. At 1042 hours, however, an M113 armored personnel carrier from the company moving along the road detonated another anti-tank mine. SP4 Brooks and PFC Springer, who were inside the track, were killed in the blast. Another three troopers were injured in the detonation.
Born: 1945 Glen Rock, NJ
Died: 1968 Binh Duong Province, Republic of Vietnam