Black Southern Belle History – Montford Point Marines in Jacksonville, NC
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, and only 300 of those are still alive, and we are losing them rapidly. That’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. Was it in the Marines? Do you have any discharge papers? The time of service for many of these men was so grueling—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: 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) 840-1789 or 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.
Two recruits in a light tank during training in mechanized warfare at Montford Point, Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 1943. (Photo by Pat Terry)
The first black marines decorated by the famed 2nd Marine Dvision somewhere in the Pacific. (Left to right) Staff Sgt Timerlate Kirven and Cpl. Samuel J. Love, Sr., received Purple Hearts for wounds received in the Battle of Saipan.
New recruits learn to drill. Breaking a tradition of 167 years, the U.S. Marine Corps enlisted blacks, June 1, 1942. The first class of 1,200 black volunteers began their training three months later as members of the 51st Composite Defense Battalion at Montford Point, a section of the 200-square-miles Marine Base, Camp Lejeune, N.C. (Photo by Roger Smith)
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.
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Early woven basket, African influence. 
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