The Museum Hoped for 1,000 Birthday Cards for America’s Oldest WWII Veteran. Nearly 10,000 Arrived

Every year, the National WWII Museum in New Orleans threw a birthday party for a very special neighbor.

Lawrence Brooks had served in World War II with the 91st Engineer Battalion, a mostly Black unit stationed in New Guinea and the Philippines. He reached the rank of private first class.

By 2020, he was the oldest known living U.S. veteran of the war. On September 12 that year, he would turn 111.

But the pandemic meant the usual party at the museum could not happen. So the museum asked Americans to do something simple: send Mr. Brooks a birthday card.

Staff hoped for 500 to 1,000 cards.

Nearly 10,000 arrived, from all 50 states and from other countries too.

On his birthday, the party came to him. Standing on the porch of his home, Mr. Brooks watched vintage military planes fly in formation overhead. The museum’s vocal trio, the Victory Belles, sang to him from the sidewalk, including “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B.” He even danced a little two-step.

Museum staff delivered a car full of mail. One of them told him that ten thousand people were there with him, all because of him and what he represented.

His reply, given with a smile and a wave, was simple: “God bless all of you. Every one of you.”

The cards kept coming. The museum later said he received more than 21,500 from all 50 states and nearly 30 countries.

Lawrence Brooks died in 2022 at the age of 112. This video is a reminder of one bright afternoon when a whole country found a way to say thank you.