(Photo: Twentieth Century Fox)

Cuba Gooding, Jr. stars in this film based on the life of Carl Brashear - the first African American, then also the first amputee, US Navy Diver and the man who trained him, Master Cheif Billy Sunday (played by Robert De Niro).

Born as a sharecropper in 1931, Brashear entered the US Navy in 1948 shortly after the Navy had become desegregated. In one instance as a diver Brashear collected some 16,000 rounds of ammunition that fell off of a barge.

In 2000, Brashear was honored with the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. 

Catch the film Men of Honor about Barshear's wondrous life on Saturday, January 18th at 8P/7C. Only on BET.