Corpus Obscura: First black Navy diver dead at 75

Carl M. Brashear, the first black U.S. Navy diver, died Tuesday at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth of respiratory and heart failure. Brashear joined the Navy in 1948 at the age of 17, not long after the U.S. military desegregated. In 1954, he was accepted and graduated from the diving program, but in 1966, as he was attempting to recover a hydrogen bomb that dropped into the waters off of Spain, his left leg was injured and was later amputated. Brashear began a grueling training program that included diving, running and calisthenics, in an effort to remain on active duty. In 1970, after completing 600- to 1,000-foot-deep dives while being evaluated at the Experimental Diving Unit in Washington, D.C., Brashear became a master diver. Brashear retired from the Navy in 1979 after more than 30 years of service. Brashear was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2000 film "Men of Honor," co-starring Robert DeNiro. Brashear was 75.