We love showcasing and sharing Black Southern Belle history and supporting African American Veterans any way we can. Today we are doing just that. Of the almost 20,000 Montford Point Marines, we only know the names of about 1200 of them,A�and only 300 of those are still alive, and we are losing them rapidly. Thata��s why the Montford Point Marine Memorial in Jacksonville NC has only stars, no names. All the other memorials in the Lejeune Memorial Gardens have names. The Vietnam Memorial in these same gardens is one of only a few in the country that has the name of every fallen person, both black and white.
We are asking ALL black families who might have had a grandfather or father, uncle or cousin in the military in World War II to ASK about the service.A�Was it in the Marines? Do you have any discharge papers? The time of service for many of these men was so gruelinga��that after the war, they came home and many never even spoke to their families about it again. Several grandchildren have reported to our friends in the Montford Point Marine Association that they were stunned to find out that their grandfather served.
Can you imagine having a relative who has earned the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor for a US civilian, and not know about it? To make sure these men get honored head to:A�http://visitjacksonvillenc.com/35/Celebrate
If you know a Montford Point Marine that has not been recognized, or think that your family member might have served, contact:
Carman Cole, National Secretary, Montford Point Marine Association, Inc
(706) 840-1789A�orA�nationalsecretary@
Please be sure to share this information with your friends and family. I visited Jacksonville, NC and fell in love with the town and the story of the Montford Point Marines and as a daughter of a Navy veteran it is my honor to share this story with you. Spread the word through social media and if you have images of your military veterans in your life, we would be honored to share in our upcoming stories on African American veterans. Read more about Montford Point in this article and check out some historical images of these heroes.
CopyrightNotice 
SourcesIMAGE COPRYIGHT:
PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, Montford Point Marines, by LCpl Kris Daberkoe, identified by DVIDS, is free of known copyright restrictions under U.S. copyright law.
The photos nanmed, are downloaded from marines.com/photos and are also in the Public Domain from the USMC.
Comments
I love your articles about the Montford Point Marines! I was married to one of them. He just passed away on July 15, 2017. He is being interned at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, September 1, 2017. He was a veteran of WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. He was learning how to protect us before I was born and he was fighting in Viet Nam when I graduated from high school. I truly loved listening to his life experiences which really was our history in the making. Thank you for keeping our history in the eyes and minds of our young people. They need to know we have heroes too.
Outstanding!!
Semper Fi!!
MGen Cooper sends
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF OUR HISTORY….PLEASE KEEP UP YOUR GOOD WORK