Since 1775, the United States Marine Corps has served our country in peace and war. The Marine Corps has had the finest young Americans throughout its proud history; and it is these Marines that have made the Corps one of the world's most respected military organizations. Today, the Marine Corps continues to serve the nation as a force in readiness, prepared to serve whenever the nation calls. The National Montford Point Marine Association, Inc. (NMPMA) is proud to be a thriving part of the "Marine Corps Family".

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, established a presidential directive, Executive Order 8802, allowing African Americans an opportunity to be recruited into the United States Marine Corps. These African American recruits were not sent to the traditional boot camps located at Marine Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina and San Diego, California; instead, they went to  basic training at Montford Point Camp, New River, North Carolina. Approximately twenty thousand (20,000) African American men received basic training at Montford Point Camp from August 26, 1942 to October 19, 1949.    The initial intent of the Marine Corps hierarchy was to discharge these African American Marines after the War, returning them to civilian life - leaving the Marine Corps an all-white organization.  Attitudes changed and reality took hold as the war progressed.  Once given the chance to prove themselves, it became impossible to deny the fact that this new breed of Marine was just as capable as all other Marines regardless of race, color, creed or National origin.

Exceptional recruits were singled out to assist in the training of their own platoons.  Mortimer A. Cox, Arnold R. Bostick, Edgar R. Davis, Jr., Gilbert H. "Hashmark" Johnson and Edgar R. Huff were selected for their leadership' and maturity and became the First Black Drill Instructors. These first DI's would join the staff to reinforce the training mission at Montford Point which was to develop African American Marines for support roles in the Corps, following their graduation.

In July of 1948 President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order #9981 negating segregation.  In September of 1949, Montford Marine Camp was deactivated - ending seven years of segregation.

On April 19, 1974, Montford Point Camp was renamed Camp Johnson, in honor of the late Sergeant Major, Gilbert H. "Hashmark" Johnson.  Johnson was one of the first African American's to join the Corps, a Distinguished Montford Point Drill Instructor and a Veteran of WWII and Korea. The Camp remains the only Marine Corps installation named in honor of an African American. 

https://library.uncw.edu/web/montford/documentary.html

Activated 18 Aug. 1942 at New River NC. This was the first combat unit composed of black Marines in the Corps. Trained over 1100 enlisted men and also over 400 for the 52nd. Def. Bn. Split into two detachments, one defended emergency airfields at Nonomea and Nukefetu. Later it moved to Eniwetok, Engebi, Perry and Porky Islands. Another detachment served on Kwajalein. Activated 18 Aug. 1942 at New River NC. This was the second combat unit of black Marines to be organized by the Corps. Composed of two administrative units and embarked for the Marshall Islands One group prepared to defend the air bases of MAG 13 and the other went to Roi-Namur.

Marine defense battalions were seen as an ideal platform for integrating African Americans into units with white leaders, since they trained independently and fought in isolated areas. Those recruits slated for defense battalions were trained at the then-segregated Montford Point (now known as Camp Gilbert H. Johnson, part of the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune complex in North Carolina). They would then be assigned to the two black defense battalions, the 51st and 52nd

Throughout the first six months that blacks served in the Marine Corps, the focus of attention was the 51st Composite Defense Battalion of which my father was a part. It was to be the first (and for a time the only) black combat unit. Its initial stages of training were hampered by equipment shortages, but even more by the complete unfamiliarity of the men with the weapons and supporting equipment they encountered.

On June 07, 1943, the qualifier "Composite" was dropped from the title of the 51st Defense Battalion; the 155mm Battery became a group, and the Machine Gun unit evolved into the Special Weapons Group, with 20mm and 40mm weapons, as well as machine guns. A month later, the 155mm Group became the Seacoast Artillery Group, and the 90mm outfit, with its searchlights, the Antiaircraft Artillery Group. No further changes took place before the battalion went overseas.

The tempo of training picked up throughout the summer and fall of 1943 as African-American noncommissioned officers replaced white enlisted men who had taught them to handle weapons and lead men into combat. On August 20, 1943, the 51st Defense Battalion suffered its first fatality. During a disembarkation exercise, while Marines of the 155mm Artillery Group scrambled down a bet draped over a wooden structure representing the side of a transport, Corporal Gilbert Fraser, Jr. slipped, fell into a landing craft in the water below, and suffered injuries that claimed his life. In memory of the 30-year old graduate of Virginia Union College, the road leading from Montford Point Camp to the artillery range became Fraser Road.

Although the men of the 51st Defense Battalion had to assume the responsibilities of squad leaders and platoon sergeants even as they learned to care for and fire the battalion's weapons, the black Marines met this challenge, as they demonstrated in November 1943. During firing exercises - while Secretary of the Navy Knox, General Holcomb, and Colonel Johnson of the Selective Service System watched, an African-American crew opened fire with a 90mm gun at a sleeve target being towed overhead and hit it within just 60 seconds. Lieutenant Colonel Stephenson, listening for the Commandant's reaction, heard him say, "I think they're ready now." Few other crews in the 51st could match this performance, and a number of them clearly needed further training, as some of their officers warned at the time. The four days of firing at the end of November could not be repeated, however, for the unit would depart sooner than originally planned on the first leg of a journey to the Pacific. Whatever its ultimate destination, the 51st Defense Battalion started off to war early in January 1944, and by the 19th, most of the unit - less 400 men transferred to the newly organized 52nd Defense Battalion - and the bulk of its gear were moving by rail toward San Diego.

The 51st Defense Battalions's move across a segregated America began with a confrontation in Atlanta, Georgia, where one of the trains stopped so the men could have breakfast. Unaware of the layout of the Jim Crow railroad station, the noncommissioned officers moved the black Marines into a waiting room reserved for whites, only to be halted by white military police determined to uphold local law. The African -Americans stood ready to push their way through, but the train commander arrived, conferred with the officer in charge of the MP's, and prevented a tense situation from turning violent.

Elsewhere, the move to the West Coast went more smoothly. During a rest stop at Big Springs, Texas, one of the officers warned that this was Jim Crow country and urged the black Marines to be careful. They swarmed over the small town, however, and encountered no open hostility, obtaining service at the soda fountain or shooting pool at the facilities maintained for troops whose trains stopped at Big Springs. Further west, during a two-hour layover at Yuma, Arizona, Red Cross volunteers distributed candy, ice cream, fruit, magazines, and Bibles. One of the African-Americans, John R. Griffin, got the impression that "the entire city, including the Mexicans and Indians, came to the station to see the first Negro Defense Battalion go overseas."

At Camp Elliott, California, where the battalion made its final preparations for deployment to the pacific, the racial climate more closely resembled Atlanta than Yuma or Big Springs. At an open-air movie, Jim Crow seating prevailed and the black Marines were ordered to the rear of the natural amphitheater that served as a theater. A spontaneous protest resulted in the expulsion of the men of the 51st, whose anger still boiled when they arrived at the battalion area. Colonel Stephenson tried to make up for the mistreatment of his Marines by liberally granting passes so they could find entertainment in nearby San Diego.

Because they were replacing 7th Defense Battalion already established in the Ellice group, the black Marines turned in all of the heavy equipment they had brought with them from Montford Point and boarded the merchantman SS Meteor which sailed from San Diego on February 11, 1944. Less than a month had elapsed since the last train left North Carolina on the first leg of the journey to war. While Meteor steamed toward the Ellice Islands, the 51st Defense Battalion divided into two components. Detachment A, led by Lt. Colonel Gould P. Groves, the executive officer, would garrison Nanomea Island, while the rest of the battalion, under Colonel Curtis W. LeGette, manned the defenses of Funafuti and nearby Nukufetau. By February 27, the 51st completed the relief of the 7th Defense Battalion, taking over the w hite unit's weapons and equipment. One of the African-American Marines,upon first experiencing the isolation that surrounded him, suggested that the departing whites "were never so glad to see black people in their lives."

The 51st Defense Battalion remained in the Ellice Islands rough;y six months. When the black Marines received orders to depart, they carefully cleaned and checked the equipment inherited from the 7th Defense Battalion before turning everything over to the white 10th Defense Battalion. Colonel LeGette's , of which my father, James Albert Ferren was a member, unit set sail on September 8, 1944 for Eniwetok Atoll, a vast anchorage kept under sporadic surveillance, and occasionally harassed, by Japanese aircraft. The battalion stood ready to meet this threat from the skies, since it had reorganized two months earlier as an antiaircraft unit, losing its 155mm guns but adding a fourth 90 mm battery and exchanging its machine guns and 20mm weapons for a second 40mm battery. The reconstructed unit kept its searchlights and radar. While the black Marines manned positions on four of the atoll's islands, Colonel LeGette on December 13, 1944, handed over the battalion to Colonel Groves. A member of the unit, Herman Darden, Jr., whom I had the pleasure of meeting in 1998 at the Montford Point Association's 33rd Annual Convention, remembered that the departing commander "took us out on dress parade before he left, and stood there with tears in his eyes, and told us......"You have shown me that you can soldier with the best of 'em.' "

The possibility of action l 31 March, 2014 marines and the possibility of aerial attack. One night, while the men were watching a movie, the film abruptly stopped. Condition Red; Japanese aircraft were on the way. "I never saw such jubilation in my life," recalls Darden, for everyone responded eagerly. A Marine on a working party unloading ammunition might grumble about lifting a single 90 mm round, but with combat seemingly minutes away, men "were running around with one under each arm. "By dawn, the alert had ended; not even one Japanese aircraft tested the battalion's gun crews, and from that moment on," Darden said, " the mental attitude seemed to dwindle."

Routine settled over Eniwetok, enveloping the unit Colonel Groves now commanded. As one of its sergeants phrased it, "routine got boresome." punctuated only by the occasional crash of forced landing by American planes. A major change occurred on June 12, 1945, when the battalion commander formed a 251-man composite group, under Major William M. Tracy, for duty at Kwajalein Atoll. Two days later, the group, consisting of a battery of 90mm gun, a 40mm platoon, and four searchlight sections, boarded an LST for the voyage. The contingent saw no combat at Kawajalen, nor did the remainder of the battalion at Eniwetok.

52nd Defense Battalion

Activated 18 Aug. 1942 at New River NC. This was the second combat unit of black Marines to be organized by the Corps. Composed of two administrative units and embarked for the Marshall Islands One group prepared to defend the air bases of MAG 13 and the other went to Roi-Namur.

A Depot Special Bulletin #1-44 dated 28 July 1943 references an article printed in Time Magazine on 24 July, 1944. "...Last week, as a footnote to the invasion of Saipan, Time correspondent Robert Sherrod wrote about the first to see action: Negro Marines, under fire for the first time, have rated a universal 4.0 (Annapolis mark of perfection) on Saipan. Some landed with the assault waves. All in the four service companies have been under fire at one time or another during the battle. Some have have been wounded, several of them have been killed in action. 'COOL IN COMBAT' When the Japanese counterattacked the 4th Marine Division near Charan Kanoa, twelve Negroes were thrown into the line. Their white officers said they accounted for about 15 Japanese.... They were under intense mortar fire and artillery fire as well as rifle and machine gun fire. They kept advancing until the counter attack was stopped. Negro Marines were at their best while performing their normal duties. Credited with being the work ingest men on Saipan, they performed prodigious feats of labor both while under fire and after beachheads were well secured. Some unloaded boats for three days with little or no sleep, working in water waist deep.... On an open transport, where a detachment of Negroes was left to load small boats, they volunteered to unload and tend the wounded who were brought to the transport...." 2. To the 18th, 19th, and 20th Depot Companies and the 3rd Ammunition Company, congratulations from their Commanding Officer. Well Done." Signed Earl H Phillips Col. USMC Commanding.

The Montford Point Story: Step by Step They Lead the Way

by: Cassandra L. Paschal

.....America's long history of racial ambivalence is observable in the story of integrating the Marine Corps. What it took to make integration work in the Corps was the recruitment of men identified by Tom Brokaw as "The Greatest Generation." These men recognized the terrorism of the two great Axis powers of the 1940's, Germany and Japan, because they, unfortunately, had been on the receiving end of such terrorism in their own homeland. They believed, with an earnestness that we don't often find today, that if they could show their homeland their valor they would return to a country that, in its gratitude, would give them all of the freedoms provided in our Constitution.

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The military had already recruited soldiers into the Army and sailors into the Navy, but the Marines continued to bar African Americans from service until President Roosevelt's Executive Order 8802. Though there was initial resistance, the Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, complied with the order and decreed that the enlistment as African American Marines would begin on June 1, 1942. Though there was some resistance from most leadership within the Marine Corps, the Continental Marines had at least a few Africans - slaves and freedmen - that served during the American Revolution. A Delaware slave known as John Martin was recruited, without permission from his owner, to serve under Captain Miles Pennington of the Continental brig, Reprisal, and it is recorded that Private Martin served well, even assisting in the capture of five British merchant men.1 It took over 150 years for America to honor the sacrifices of that early Marine, but in doing so, a legacy of greatness and service to country was created by the Montford Point Marines about which all Americans can be proud.

On August 18, 1942, the first camp to accept "Negro" Marines was opened in an area of Camp Lejuene, North Carolina. The Marine Corps created "…a camp with all the facilities of the white camps. Good barracks, dining halls, churches, medical facilities, entertainment and movie halls, camp stores, barbershops, training areas, and rifle-ranges and all other facilities on a par with 'white' facilities."2 Everyone in the military, and especially the Marine Corps, was watching this gallant experiment. The young men of color recruited from many states felt the pressure to be the best possible Marines. They wanted to "bring honor to the Corps" since they were the first. The young African American Marines trained hard, at first with white drill instructors. But as African Americans trained and showed promise, they were promoted and soon there was an African American corps of Drill Instructors. They were tough, but their hard work paid off when General Alexander. A. Vandergriff, the then-Commandant of the Marine Corps, came to review the troops. The Montford Point Marines gave such a precision drill that the general is said to have issued an order to lift all restraints on enlisting African American Marines. These young men were proud to have done well before the Commandant; however, their true tests were still to come.

The Marine Corps had a policy of assigning black regiments to support roles in combat. The 52nd Defense Battalion was sent to the Marshall Islands after the fighting had largely concluded. The area was so desolate that one of the incoming Marines suggested that the departing white Marines had "…never been so glad to see black people in their lives" a31 March, 2014 .....

The 51st Defense Battalion had no such lack of action. They arrived at Saipan in the Mariana Islands to support the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions of V Amphibious Corps. While they were assisting the combat units, one of their own, Private First Class Leroy Seals of Brooklyn, NY, was shot and died the next day of his wounds. The Montford Point Marines picked up their rifles that day and fought back the Japanese and even destroyed one of the Japanese machine guns from the beachhead perimeter side-by-side with the white combat units. In February 1945, a group from the 51st landed on Iwo Jima with the 5th Division, 28th Regiment. The combat regiment came ashore and it seemed that taking Iwo Jima would be a cake-walk. The Japanese, however, had planned an ambush. They (the Japanese) had placed guns on either side of Mount Suribachi and were firing at will onto the Marines on the island. The black Marines of the 8th Ammunition Company landed during the second or third wave and somehow they kept ammunition in the hands of the combat units throughout this deadly firefight. Time and time again the black Marines delivered the much needed ammunition. Though the Japanese actually shot two trucks from under one of the drivers, he kept coming back. Combat Marines who thought they had seen everything cheered this young, black Marine from their foxholes. The Montford Point Marines knew their job was to keep the combatants supplied and they did so with great valor and at great expense to their company. The Japanese soon saw this and began to make their assault on the Ammo Company as well as the combat Marines. The Montford Point Marines rose to the occasion by fighting off these attacks as they continued their supply missions. This is the courage and stamina that lead Admiral Nimitz, Commander of the Fleet in the Pacific to say, "On Iwo Jima, in the ranks of all the Marines who set foot on that Island uncommon valor was a common virtue.

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Those early Montford Point Marines were the catalyst for the great presence of African Americans in the Marine Corps. By the time that camp was closed for recruit training in 1949, over 21,000 recruits were trained and molded there. Harry Truman's order, Executive Order 9981, signed July 26, 1948, guaranteed the end of a segregated training facility for African Americans in the Marines. Montford Point was officially renamed for Master Sergeant Gilbert "Hashmark" Johnson (one of the first six African American Drill Instructors and an original Montford Pointer) in April 1974. The memories of the change Montford Point meant to the Marine Corps and America must never be forgotten. These men from the "Greatest Generation" made a sacrifice for their country that lead to changes in how African Americans are viewed by many segments of the population. They should have received even greater honor than they got. We must never forget the soldiers that had to fight and die to prove they could wear the Eagle, Globe and Anchor.

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What would those young men who fought first so hard for their country overseas and in their country think of today's Marine Corps, a Marine Corps that has developed a system of promotion based on merit only? The Marine Corps they helped build is the one that promoted its first African American pilot, Frank E. Petersen, to the rank of three-star general; it is the one that developed Major General (retired) Charles Bolden, Jr. as an aviator who represented the Marines in the NASA space program, and, even more important to him was that he was able to pass his love of flying on to his son who is also a Marine Corps aviator; or the Corps that has given Gilda Jackson the opportunity to become its first African American Colonel and the Commander of the Naval Aviation Depot at the Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point North Carolina. This Corps is the place that retired Staff Sergeant Glynis A. Harvey came to love enough to write a poem about the foundation the Montford Point Marines, which provided for her success and the success of many other young people who came after her. This is a legacy worth celebrating. Today's Marine Corps honors those young men who willingly signed up in 1942 by opening itself up to anyone who brings the desire to succeed and the drive to be nothing less than the best. Those are the few, the proud, the Marines.

Important Events

• The first MPMA Inc., National Convention was held in Chicago in August 1966. The late Senator Paul Douglas, a Marine veteran of World War II and Senatorial candidate Mr. Charles Percy from Illinois, addressed the membership. This was considered the first Convention because the event in Philadelphia in 1965 was a “reunion”.

• On June 10, 1967, the Incorporators: Brooks Gray, Obadiah Poe, Henry Addison, Leroy Dandridge, and James France (All Montford Point Marines) registered an application to establish a charter for the Montford Point Marine Association, Inc. The first Board of Directors for the Montford Point Marine Association, Inc. was Brooks Gray, Obadiah Poe, Henry Addison, Leroy Dandridge, James France, Arthur F. Earley, and Norman Tripplet (All Montford Point Marines).

• On December 11, 1967, the Articles of Incorporation, Non-Profit status was filed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of State.

•  One of the first official actions of the National Executive Council was to establish an open membership policy, which states, "Membership in this Association shall be open to all Marines and Marine veterans who honorably serve our country". The initial purpose of the MPMA is stated thusly:

“To promote and preserve the strong bonds of friendship borne of shared adversities and to devote ourselves to the furtherance of these friendships as Marines through the sharing of experience and accomplishments to ensure more peaceful times. 

In August 14, 1971 at the 7th National Convention held in New Orleans, Reverend Jesse L. Jackson was the Guest of Honor and also received the Man of the Year Award from MPMA.

•  During August 8-12, 1973 at the 9th MPMA National Convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, the MPMA Inc., Ladies Auxiliary was established.

• The Montford Point Marine Association, Inc. with the endorsement from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable James E. Johnson, (MPM) received approval from General Robert E. Cushman, Jr., 25th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps to rename Montford Point Camp. On April 19, 1974, Montford Point Camp was officially renamed Camp G. H. Johnson after Montford Point Marine, Sergeant Major Gilbert Hubert “Hashmark” Johnson.

•  During August 20-24, 1975, Philadelphia Chapter #1 hosted the 10th MPMA Inc., Convention and the Montford Point Marines were approved for ‘Life Membership’ in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

• The first substantial donation to the National Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, Inc., was approved in 1976 at the 11th National Convention held in Chicago, Illinois. An annual contribution to this scholarship fund has been made since being approved by the membership.

• During January 1993, members of the MPMA marched in the first inaugural parade of President William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States in Washington, District of Columbia.

• In 1999, during the 14th National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada initial plans to build a National Monument were first discussed.
•  On April 15, 2005, the Brooks Elbert Gray, Jr. Consolidated Academic Instruction Facility was named in honor of this Montford Point Marine, MPMA, Inc. National President and founder, Master Gunnery Sergeant Brooks E. Gray was dedicated aboard Camp Gilbert H. Johnson, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

• In 2007, the Montford Point Marine Association was approved to be a non-profit veteran’s organization and held the status of 501 (c) 19.

• On July 20, 2010 in the United States Senate, the Honorable Richard Burr and Honorable Roland Burris, submitted the Senate Resolution S. RES. 587, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. On July 22, 2010 Committee discharged; considered and agreed to Senate Resolution, S. RES. 587, Designating August 26, 2010, as “Montford Point Marines Day”.

• During July 21-24, 2010, Fredericksburg, Virginia, while at the 45th National Convention, the Montford Point Marine Monument concept was reintroduced and approved to begin planning to erect a National Memorial in honor of the Montford Point Marines.

• On March 1, 2011, Montford Point Marine Association was recognized as exempt under 501 (c) 3 status. The Association received a new Exempt Identification Number (EIN) and named National Montford Point Marine Association Incorporated (NMPMA, Inc.).

•  In August 2011, General John F. Amos, the 35th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, invited approximately 150 Montford Point Marines to Marine Barracks, 8th and I, Washington, District of Columbia; the oldest post in the United States Marine Corps, for recognition at a special parade and a breakfast with the Commandant.
•  On November 11, 2011 (Veteran’s Day), the 112th Congress of the United States of America unanimously passed Bill H.R. 2447 to grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the Montford Point Marines, the highest award bestowed upon a civilian for their service.

•   On November 23, 2011, President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America signed Bill H.R. 2447 into Law to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Montford Point Marines.
•   April 12, 2012 NC Triad-Triangle Chapter 38 was stood up by Past National President Dr. James Averhart,

• On June 27, 2012, approximately 365 Montford Point Marines were awarded with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, at a ceremony held at the United States Capitol, Emancipation Hall, Washington, District of Columbia. Montford Point Marine, 1stSgt William “Jack” McDowell accepted the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of all Montford Point Marines and the MPMA from the Speaker of the House, Honorable John Boehner, and gave a rousing acceptance speech.

• On June 28, 2012, the Montford Point Marines and family members were invited to Marine Barracks, 8th and I, for a mass Congressional Gold Medal Awarding Ceremony, parade and reception.
•  On July 23, 2012, The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) presented the National Montford Point Marine Association, Inc., the Gold Medal of Merit and Citation at their 113th National Convention in Las Vega, Nevada.

•   On March 2, 2013, the United States Naval Ship (USNS) Montford Point Mobile Landing Platform (MLP-1) was christened by its sponsor, Mrs. Alexis Bolden, wife of the 12th NASA Administrator, Charles Frank Bolden, Jr. (Major General USMC RET) in San Diego, California.

•  On May 6, 2014, the 2d Supply Battalion Official LOGO Change Ceremony “Honoring its Historical Linkage to the Montford Point Marines” was held aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The words, a Sustinare, 2D Supply Battalion, 2D Marine Logistics Group, Legacy of Montford Point is inscribed on the LOGO crest with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor with a Four Point Star.

•  On July 29, 2016, the Jacksonville, NC community witnessed the dedication phase of the Montford Point Marine Memorial located in Memorial Gardens. The memorial includes a restored 90-mm M1A1 anti-aircraft gun, a 15-foot bronze statue of a Montford Point Marine and a “Wall of Stars” that represents all of the Marines who trained at the segregated camp.

•  The NMPMA NC Triad-Triangle Chapter 38 will continue to break barriers and preserve the legacy of the Montford Point Marines.