Col. George Mercer Brooke III (USMC retired) of Lexington, Virginia passed away on March 27, 2018 after a brief illness.
He was born on February 12, 1945 in Augusta, Ga. He was raised in Lexington, where his father taught history at the Virginia Military Institute.
He was predeceased by his father, George Mercer Brooke Jr.
He is survived by his mother, Frances Bailey Brooke; his wife of 50 years, Jane Leech Brooke; his daughter, Catherine Brooke Hylton, and her husband, Stuart; his son, George Mercer Brooke IV, and his wife, Erika; and his sister, Marion Brooke Carson, and her husband, Charles. He is also survived by his six grandchildren, Emily Jackson, Grace Hylton and Elise, Emma, John and Philip Brooke.
Col. Brooke graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1967. Upon graduation he was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. He saw action in Vietnam as an artillery forward observer. After his combat tour he was assigned as a gunnery instructor at Fort Sill, Okla. He returned to the Far East and commanded an artillery battery in the 3rd Division on Okinawa, Japan. He commanded the Marine Security Detachment on the USS Canopus in Holy Loch Scotland. During this tour of duty, he attended the West German Airborne School.
Upon his return to the U.S., he attended the Command and Staff College in Quantico. He served two tours on recruiting duty, first as the commanding officer of the Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Little Rock, Ark., and later as commanding officer of the 8th Marine Corps District in Long Island, N.Y. He attended the National War College and served on the staffs of Headquarters Marine Corps and the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, becoming an expert in pre-positioning of military equipment. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1994.
Col. Brooke's personal decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals with combat "V", Navy Achievement Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.
After his retirement from the Marine Corps, Col. Brooke earned a doctorate in history from Georgetown University. He and his wife, Jane returned to Lexington in 2005, where he taught as an adjunct professor in the history department at VMI until 2012.
George's love of history manifested itself in his membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, founded in 1783 to promote knowledge and appreciation of the achievement of American independence and those who helped make it so. Col. Brooke served as the assistant secretary for the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of Virginia from 2013 until his death.
Services will be held at Grace Episcopal Church in Lexington on Friday, April 6, at 2 p.m., where Col. Brooke served two terms on the vestry, once as senior warden.
Donations may be made to the VMI Foundation at P. O. Box 932, Lexington, VA 24450; or Grace Episcopal Church, 123 W. Washington St., Lexington, VA 24450.
