WOMEN VETERANS HISTORICAL COLLECTION

Irma Jean Brooks Collection, 1952-1973, 2006

# WV-0347

• Name: Brooks, Irma Jean
• Branch: United States Navy
• Served: 1952-1973

ACQUISITION: Gift of Irma Jean Brooks in April 2006.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Irma Jean Brooks was born and raised in Madison, Tennessee. She also spent several years with her family in Richland, Washington, where her father worked at a facility involved with making the atomic bomb during World War II. The family returned to Tennessee after the war, and Brooks graduated from Isaac Litton High School in Nashville in 1947. She then attended the University of Tennessee, graduating in 1951 with a major in physical education. Brooks taught for one year before joining the navy.

Brooks received a direct commission in the navy in January 1952 and was sent to the Women Officers School in Newport, Rhode Island. After four months of training, she was sent to San Francisco, California, to the staff of Commander, Western Sea Frontier for one year and then to custodian of registered publications for two years. Brooks was then transferred to the U.S. Naval Station in Washington, D.C., where she was in charge of the Quarters K barracks facility in Arlington, Virginia, for three years. Brooks was then ordered to Naples, Italy, for two years on the staff of Commander, Fleet Air Mediterranean.

Brooks returned to the United States in the early 1960s when she was assigned to the Officer Personnel Division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers) in Washington, D.C. After that three-year tour, she was transferred to the Naval Air Development Center in Johnsville, Pennsylvania, for three years. Brooks then returned to the Women Officers School in Newport, this time as academic director and leadership instructor.

In the late 1960s, Brooks returned to BuPers and was put in charge of officer training. Her final duty station was at the U.S. Navy Recruiting Command from 1970 to 1973. Brooks retired from the navy in March 1973 and moved to San Diego, California, shortly thereafter.

COLLECTION OVERVIEW: Oral history interview, photograph, uniform, ribbons, and medals

Oral history interview primarily documents Charlotte Holder Primarily documents Irma Jean Brooks's background and her twenty-year career in the U.S. Navy in personnel and administration.

Brooks talks briefly about her early life. Topics include her family; her father's work at the Hanford Engineer Works in Washington during World War II; driving between Tennessee and Washington; her time at the University of Tennessee in the late 1940s; and her teaching job.

Brooks chiefly discusses her twenty-year career in the navy from 1952 to 1973. She recalls her response to a navy recruiting poster; her feeling that it was a temporary job; enjoying the adventure and new opportunities; and her officers' training at the Women Officers School in Newport, Rhode Island.

Brooks comments on all of her duty stations. Topics related to her first assignments in San Francisco, California, in 1952 include working in communications; increased communications traffic during the last year of the Korean War; her responsibilities on the staff of Commander, Western Sea Frontier; the organization of the office; her work as custodian of registered publications; and enjoying San Francisco. Topics related to Brooks's work in the mid-1950s at the U.S. Naval Station in Washington, D.C., include the Quarter K barracks in Arlington, Virginia; dealing with navy personnel; and the challenges of the job.

Brooks also describes her two-year tour in Naples, Italy, in the late 1950s. She talks about working on the staff of Commander, Fleet Air Mediterranean; assisting with talking papers and speeches for the admiral and coordinating his travel; visits to Spain, Sicily, Morocco, and Vienna, including seeing the Lipizzaner horses; her living arrangements; and having her personal Thunderbird car with her.

Brooks briefly talks about her tours in the 1960s when she returned to the United States. Topics include the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers), where she participated in the funeral procession of Admiral Ernest King and the interment of the second Unknown Soldier at Arlington; working in personnel at the Naval Air Development Center in Johnsville, Pennsylvania, and being able to fly and ride the centrifuge; returning to the Women Officers School in Newport as a director; and returning to BuPers and working in personnel.

Brooks also discusses the response to women in the navy; people working hard during times of war to do the best job possible; her attitude toward Vietnam and the protests; meeting Major General Jeanne Holm; her decision to retire; her career after the military; changes in the navy over the course of her career; and women in combat positions.

LOCATION:
Women Veterans Historical Collection
#WV-0347

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Last updated Monday June 30 2008 .