Thousands of Black Marines fought in World War II. But they had to fight for the right to do so. Now their nation wants to honor them, if they can be found.
Montford Point Marines attend a Congressional Gold Medal Commemorative Ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington in Washington, D.C., 28 June 2012. The Medal, the highest U.S. civilian award, is presented to the Montford Marines, the first African-Americans allowed to enlist in the Marine Corps. (Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Christina Oneil. Public Domain photo distributed by Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
The nation’s most prestigious civilian award — the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal — awaits them, but most of the United States’ first Black Marines are dead.
The 400 left, now mostly in their 90s, are probably unaware of the honor they received 13 years ago. Some 20,000 Montford Point Marines broke the color barrier in the Second World War but they are almost forgotten.
There is no Hollywood movie recording their heroics. Now, a rearguard effort is underway to find them or their families, tell their stories and add them to the legacy of race, war and civil rights in the United States.
Until 1941, African Americans were prohibited from joining the military as U.S. Marines. That was when Executive Order 8802 banned discriminatory employment practices by federal agencies, unions and companies engaged in defense-related work. Only then did the Marine Corps and its commandant allow Black enlistment, joining the rest of the armed forces.
“If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather have the whites,” said Corps Commandant Thomas Holcomb at the time.
Fighting for the right to fight
It was an experiment expected to fail when the 900 enlistees assembled in August 1942 at Camp Montford Point, at the far edge of the main Marine basic training site, Camp Lejeune, in Jacksonville in the U.S. state of North Carolina. But more than 20,000 Marines went through Montford Point over the next seven years until all military facilities were desegregated by then-U.S. President Harry Truman.
That first group practically had to build the camp themselves.
“We didn’t have barracks, we lived in huts, built from cardboard, painted green. Camp Lejeune had barracks, but we had huts,” said Sergeant Carrel Reavis in a 2014 interview with KPBS news in San Diego, California. “It was located in the backwoods, amid water snakes and bears.”
Montford Point Marines were forbidden to enter Camp Lejeune without a white Marine accompanying them, and not allowed to cross the railroad tracks into Jacksonville. Montford Point Marines were not granted access to doctors or support personnel assigned to their white counterparts.
The discrimination persisted after basic training.
It was “[e]ssential that in no case shall there be colored noncommissioned officers senior to white men in the same unit, and desirable that few, if any, be of the same rank,” read Letter of Instruction 421 in 1942. This effectively blocked the path to promotion for most Blacks, and unlike the Army, Blacks were officially barred from the officer ranks.
Proving themselves on the Pacific front
Montford Point Marines were deployed throughout the Pacific, but not at first into combat units. Instead, they were put in support companies, which created friction.
In a daily journal kept at the time by Montford Point Marine PFC Frederick William Thomas, and provided to me by his niece, he described his experience. “We had to load ships, service officers, master-load all sorts of supplies into landing crafts, sought out the cargo on the beach and move the desperately needed materials inland to the fighting units,” he wrote.
The only Montford Point Marines to see action were the Ammunition and Depot Companies in the Pacific islands of Saipan, Guam and Peleliu, and they distinguished themselves.
“The Negro Marines are no longer on trial,” said Lt. General Alexander Vandegrift, the new Corps commandant, after the Battle of Saipan in 1944. “They are Marines, period.”
In all, 87 Montford Point graduates were killed in action by war’s end.
The first Black president honors the first Black Marines.
Fifty-seven years after Montford Point 1949 shutdown, the National Montford Point Marine Association started to lobby Congress for a Congressional Gold Medal, and six years later, its efforts came to fruition.
On 1 August 2011, the history of the Montford Point Marines was added to United States Marine Corps curriculum. Two months later, then-U.S. President Barack Obama signed the bill authorizing a Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded collectively to all Montford Point Marines. The first were handed out in 2012, and roughly 3,000 of the veterans have been identified.
The association started out low-tech in its search for the remaining Marines by hosting events, local promotions and word of mouth.
Now, led by Mallorie Berger, a researcher, advocate and granddaughter of a Montford Point Marine, genealogical websites, public records, Marine Corps muster rolls and historical newspaper databases have entered the search process.
“There’s really no set process, other than starting with a name, and then just trying to do the research,” said Berger. The search sometimes can be as easy as a Google search for an obituary, other times it can be extremely difficult.
The race to find all Montford vets
Poor record keeping is a big obstacle. Many paper records from the 1940s are lost, destroyed or cannot be released due to classified information. Getting information from families can be just as difficult since many were unaware their loved one was a Montford Point Marine or what Montford Point is.
“I’ve had people not call me back because they think it’s a scam,” Berger said. And as with many veterans of the era, Montford Point Marines tend not to talk about wartime experiences. But the clock is ticking.
“Time is of the essence because WWII veterans are dying at an accelerated rate and we need to get these hidden heroes recognized,” said Berger.
So far, roughly 15% Montford Point Marines have been found.
Although the search for the remaining Marines is primarily focused on the United States, it’s believed there may be Montford Point Marines and their descendants scattered throughout Asia, Europe and Canada. It’s possible some Marines didn’t return home after serving or decided to emigrate after returning home, starting families abroad. Reasons to live abroad included the denial of benefits from the G.I. Bill, lack of opportunities and finding love overseas.
A post war diaspora
Thousands of interracial babies were born in countries where U.S. troops were deployed in the decade after 1945. In the Pacific, there was a similar surge.
“I could imagine people maybe not feeling so kindly toward this country, but loved the country they stayed in,” said Montford Point Marine PFC Stansbury Johnson, who both trained and served at Montford Point. “So, they stayed, got married and had children.”
Black veterans received no homecoming parades, were viewed as criminals to white communities and were victims to violent attacks, especially when wearing their uniform, according to Matthew F. Delmont’s Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. Many described how they were treated better by people outside their race overseas than they ever were in the United States.
The association is extending its search overseas, helping people such as Rebekka White of Frankfurt, Germany to determine whether her father is a Montford Point Marine and eligible for the medal.
“It’s important because it’s an identity thing,” White said. “You’re missing something. You don’t understand the history of it if you didn’t grow up with your father. You need to have a sense of identity for yourself, but it’s honoring their heritage and what they’ve gone through.”
White believes it is important to understand the lived experiences of older generations. “History is something that’s hard to engage with or relate to for family or people not living it,” she said. “I think this just adds a really important part that potentially helps people relate to the long history of contributions to this great country.”
The annual Montford Point Marine Day ceremony in August, located at the Montford Point Marine Memorial in Jacksonville, attended by surviving Montford Pointers, local politicians, senior members of the Marine Corps and friends and families of the honorees, allows for Montford Point Marines to reflect and witness the impact they’ve had on society.
The lasting legacy of Montford Point
Many Marines, like Stansbury Johnson, feel an enormous sense of pride when they see current Black Marines taking on officer roles and performing tasks that they never would have had the opportunity to do. It lets the Montford Point Marines know their hardships weren’t for naught.
“I can see it clearer than I did before,” Johnson said.
Berger said the hard work of tracking down the missing Montford Point Marines is rewarding.
“I spend loads of time and money doing what I’m doing,” Berger said. “I don’t receive any reimbursement, but the memorable phone calls I have with the families, and viewing the sense of joy and pride the Marines and their families feel as they’re being honored — that’s the payment. It’s life-changing for both me and the families. The connections being made. They all become an extension of my family.”
Montford Point closed in 1949, after President Harry Truman banned segregated armed forces and all Marines have trained at Parris Island ever since. The determination and resolve these Montford Point Marines had allowed them to break many of the training exercise records once held by their white counterparts.
Rallying descendants around the world
After serving, some Marines went on to become renowned citizens such as David Dinkins, the first Black mayor of New York City, and Dan Bankhead, the first Black pitcher in Major League Baseball.
Montford Point Marines and their families have the choice to receive their Congressional Gold Medal at the closest city with an Montford Point association chapter or in Jacksonville, North Carolina on Montford Point Marine Day at the annual association convention. As it continues its search, the association welcomes anyone who’d like to help.
“If there are any budding genealogists or internet detectives out there, this is a fantastic way for you to really hone your skills,” Berger said.
Evelyn McDowell, daughter of 1945 Montford Point graduate PFC Erwin DeWitt Aniton, said other descendants of these veterans need to get involved to help find the remaining Montford Point veterans.
“They need to feel what I feel,” McDowell said. “They need to feel it. They need to know their history. They need to know what their ancestor accomplished. They need to know that, you know, their life was special.”
Three questions to consider:
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- In what ways were the Montford Point Marines treated differently from Marines who were white?
- Why did the U.S. Marines close the Montford Point base?
- Why do you think the Montford Point men volunteered to be Marines when they knew they would be disrespected in it?
Lance Roller II is a U.S.-based researcher, data analyst and freelance journalist. He is currently a fellow in the Dalla Lana Fellowship in Journalism and Health Impact at the University of Toronto.
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