Montford Point Marines

Thanks to The Montford Point Marine Museum.

Update:

Also watch this video.

Congress does something right for a change.

LATimes

The House on Tuesday approved awarding the congressional gold medal to the first black Marines for their service during World War II in the face of discrimination.

They're known as the Montford Point Marines after the segregated North Carolina camp where they underwent training. That training began after President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 signed an executive order opening the Marine Corps to African Americans.

Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos expressed his support for the medal, saying in a letter to lawmakers that the Montford Point Marines "served with distinction in three of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific -- Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa," "defended a society that enjoyed freedoms they did not share" and "contributed, in large measure, to President Truman's decision to order the desegregation of the Armed Forces in 1948.''

The resolution was approved, 422-0, with four Montford Point Marines in the gallery for the vote.

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), the bill's chief sponsor, called it a "long overdue'' recognition.

Similar legislation is pending in the Senate, where it has bipartisan support. About 20,000 African American Marines received training at Montford Point between 1942 and 1949.

Other recipients of the congressional gold medal, the nation's highest civilian honor, include the Tuskegee Airmen, Japanese American World War II veterans, Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Walt Disney.

Walt Disney? I didn't know he was discriminated against or locked up in a concentration camp! Live and learn...

Semper Fi to The Montford Point Marines, my ebony-hued older brethren. At least you got this belated recognition before you were all gone. Pretty fast for Congress.