Retired U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Charles Brooks II, 78

NEWARK - Retired U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Charles Brooks II of Newark died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007, in the Veterans Affairs Hospital, Elsmere. He was 78.

He was born May 19, 1928, in East St. Louis, Ill., son of the late Charles and Sallie Brooks.

Before pursuing a military career, Sgt. Maj. Brooks attended Xavier University as a pre-med student.

He served his country in the U.S. Marine Corps for 32 years. He was one of the first African-American sergeant majors in the Marine Corps. He served in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Sgt. Maj. Brooks married Rose Alice English of New Bern, N.C., in 1951. To this union, two children were born, Charles III and Evelyn Rose.

Upon retiring from the Marine Corps, he moved to Newark, where he worked as a correctional officer for the Delaware Department of Corrections.

Sgt. Maj. Brooks was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Marine League, and the Marine Corps Sergeant Major Association.

He is survived by his wife, Rose Brooks; two children, Charles Brooks III and his wife Peggy of Atlanta, and Evelyn Brooks of Newark; two grandchildren, Keith Brooks and his wife Jennifer of Atlanta and Blaire Brooks of Hoboken, N.J.; a sister, Doris Harison of Kankakee, Ill.; two brothers-in-law, Frederick English and his wife Daisy of New Bern and Charles English and his wife Liz of Brockton, Mass.; a sister-in-law, Georgia Mae English of Wade, N.C.; and several nieces and nephews and other relatives and friends.

A Catholic mass for Sgt. Maj. Brooks will be 1 p.m. today in the VA Medical Center Chapel, Elsmere.

Arrangements by Minus Funeral Home of Dover.