Carl Brashear Carl Maxie Brashear ( January 19 , 1931 – July 25 , 2006 ) was the first African American to become a U . S . Navy Master Diver , rising to the position in 1970 . His life story is dramatized in the 2000 motion picture " Men of Honor " , in which he was portrayed by actor Cuba Gooding , Jr . Early life . Brashear was born on January 19 , 1931 , in Tonieville , Kentucky , the sixth of eight children to sharecroppers McDonald and Gonzella Brashear . In 1935 , the family settled on a farm in Sonora , Kentucky . Brashear attended Sonora Grade School from 1937 to 1946 . Career . Brashear enlisted in the U . S . Navy on February 25 , 1948 , shortly after the Navy had been desegregated by U . S . President Harry S . Truman . He graduated from the U . S . Navy Diving & Salvage School in 1954 , becoming the first African - American to attend and graduate from the Diving & Salvage School and the first African - American U . S . Navy Diver . While attending diving school in Bayonne , New Jersey , Brashear faced hostility and racism . He found notes on his bunk saying , “ We ’ re going to drown you today , nigger ! ” and “ We don ’ t want any nigger divers . ” Brashear received encouragement to finish from First Class Boatswain ’ s Mate Rutherford , and graduated 16 out of 17 . Brashear first did work as a diver retrieving approximately 16 , 000 rounds of ammunition that fell off a barge which had broken in half and sunk to the bottom . On his first tour of shore duty in Quonset Point , Rhode Island his duties included the salvaging of airplanes , including one Blue Angel and recovering multiple dead bodies . Brashear was assigned to escort the presidential ship the " Barbara Ann " to Rhode Island . He met President Eisenhower and received a small knife that said , “ To Carl M . Brashear . From Dwight D . Eisenhower , 1957 . Many , many thanks . ” After making chief in 1959 he stayed at Guam for three years doing mostly demolition dives . Leg amputation and recovery . In January 1966 , in an accident now known as the Palomares incident , a B28 nuclear bomb was lost off the coast of Palomares , Spain after two United States Air Force aircraft of the Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) , a B - 52G Stratofortress bomber and a KC - 135A Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft collided during aerial refueling . Brashear was serving aboard the when it was dispatched to find and recover the missing bomb for the Air Force . The warhead was found after two and a half months of searching . For his service in helping to retrieve the bomb , Brashear was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal - the highest Navy award for non - combat heroism . During the bomb recovery operations on March 23 , 1966 , a line used for towing broke loose , causing a pipe to strike Brashear ' s left leg below the knee , nearly shearing it off . He was evacuated to Torrejon Air Base in Spain , then to the USAF Hospital at Wiesbaden Air Base , Germany ; and finally to the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth , Virginia . Beset with persistent infection and necrosis , his left leg was eventually amputated . Brashear remained at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth from May 1966 until March 1967 recovering and rehabilitating from the amputation . From March 1967 to March 1968 , Brashear was assigned to the Harbor Clearance Unit Two , Diving School , preparing for return to full active duty and diving . In April 1968 , after a long struggle , Brashear was the first amputee diver to be ( re ) certified as a U . S . Navy diver . In 1970 , he became the first African - American U . S . Navy Master Diver , and served ten more years beyond that , achieving the rating of Master Chief Boatswain ' s Mate in 1971 . Brashear was motivated by his beliefs that " It ' s not a sin to get knocked down ; it ' s a sin to stay down " and " I ain ' t going to let nobody steal my dream " . Retirement . BMCM ( MDV ) Brashear retired from the U . S . Navy on April 1 , 1979 as a Master Chief Petty Officer ( E - 9 ) and Master Diver . He then served as a civilian employee for the government at Naval Station Norfolk , Norfolk , Virginia and retired in 1993 with the grade of GS - 11 . Personal life . Brashear married and divorced three times : Junetta Wilcoxson ( 1952 – 1978 ) , Hattie R . Elam ( 1980 – 1983 ) , and Jeanette A . Brundage ( 1985 – 1987 ) . He had four children : Shazanta ( 1955 – 1996 ) , DaWayne , Phillip , and Patrick . Brashear ' s grand - nephew is former New York Rangers left wing Donald Brashear . Cuba Gooding , Jr . played the role of Brashear in " Men of Honor " , a movie inspired by the life of Carl Brashear . Brashear died of respiratory and heart failure at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center , Portsmouth , Virginia on July 25 , 2006 . He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Norfolk , Virginia . Carl Brashear Foundation . After his death , his sons DaWayne and Phillip Brashear started the Carl Brashear Foundation in his honor . Honors . Brashear was honored with the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in October 2000 for 42 years of combined military and federal civilian service . The award was presented by Secretary of Defense William Cohen . On October 24 , 2007 , the Newport News Fire Department dedicated a high - speed fireboat named " Carl Brashear " to be used by their Dive and Marine Incident Response Teams . The " Lewis and Clark " - class dry cargo ship USNS " Carl Brashear " ( T - AKE - 7 ) was christened in his honor in San Diego , California on September 18 , 2008 . General Dynamics delivered the completed ship to the Navy on March 4 , 2009 . On February 21 , 2009 , Nauticus , a science and maritime museum in downtown Norfolk , Virginia , opened a new exhibit called " Dream to Dive : The Life of Master Diver Carl Brashear " . It is the first full - scale museum exhibit dedicated to Brashear .