Gordon B. Brooks
Technical Sergeant 5 Gordon B. Brooks was born 21 March 1918, in Clay County, Tennessee. He joined the Kentucky National Guard’s Headquarters Troops, 123rd Cavalry on 2 September 1936, at Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. His unit would be re-designated Battery B, 106th Separate Battalion, Coast Artillery, (Anti-Aircraft) in 1940. PFC Brooks was induced into federal service on 6 January 1941. He died on 2 April 1945, in Germany, when a motor vehicle in which he was riding overturned. He is buried in the Glasgow Municipal Cemetery, Glasgow, Kentucky.
The reorganization of the United States Army shortly before World War converted Kentucky's 123rd Cavalry on November 1, 1940, as the 103rd Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft) Separate Battalion and the 106th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft) Separate Battalion.
The 106th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft) Separate Battalion, began training at Camp Hulen, located near Palacios, Texas, in January 15, 1941. The unit arrived in Northern Ireland on May 15. On October 19, when it was transferred to North Africa. The battalion took part in Operation TORCH, the invasion of North Africa, arriving at Algeria on November 7. Between November 17, 1942 to May 13, 1943, the 106th participated in the Tunisian Campaign. The battalion left Africa and arrived in Sicily on July 10. The 106th participated in the Sicily campaign between July 9 and August 17. On September 16, the 106th departed from Sicily and moved to Italy, remained there until August 12, 1944, and participating in the Naples-Foggia Campaign. The battalion landed in Southern France on August 15. The 106th left France on December 20 and went to Germany. The unit returned to the U. S. December 2nd. The battalion was inactivated the following day, December 3, 1945 at Camp Shanks, New York. On January 29, 1947, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 623rd Field Artillery Battalion with Headquarters at Glasgow, Kentucky. Currently the lineage and honors of the 106th is carried by the 1st Battalion, 623rd Field Artillery.