TAMPA, Fla. - Donald Brooks—known to friends and family as Brooksy—joined the Navy at the young age of 17.

Looking back over eight decades, he marvels at how vastly different military life was, joking that he even had to "buy your gear and I slept in a hammock for two weeks."

The backstory:

His duty was on the high seas of the Pacific aboard an LCS, where he served as a gunner. His primary mission was to protect US carriers and fighter planes, often providing cover for soldiers as they headed to shore on remote islands. This job was far from tranquil.

Brooks vividly recounts one furious firefight: "We just filled the sky with ammo and hoped they ran into it." The intensity was so great that his back gang had to constantly replace his weapon. "Because once we started firing it was con

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