1st black Marine officer advanced through Montford Point

Collectively, the Montford Point Marines wrote an important chapter in U.S. military history. The African-Americans who trained at the segregated facility in Onslow County from 1942-49, were known for their perseverance to endure and overcome racial injustices.

Many scholars have written extensively about conditions that existed at Montford Point, and the contributions made to society by the Marines who trained there.

 

One of the most famous black Marines to pass through basic training at Montford Point was Frederick Clinton Branch of Hamlet, N.C., a community in Richmond County within the Carolina Sandhills region.

Fred Branch became the first African-American to be commissioned as a Marine Corps officer. The date was Nov. 10, 1945, about two months after the end of World War II. It wasn’t an easy journey.

 

Frederick C. Branch being pinned with his second lieutenant bars by his wife, Camilla "Peggy" Branch.

Fred Branch was the son of the Rev. James Branch and Iola Branch. His father, a pastor with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was transferred to New York state in 1925, when Fred was 3 years old.

Fred Branch graduated from high school in Mamaroneck, N.Y., in 1940 and promptly enrolled at Johnson C. Smith University, a private, historically black college in Charlotte, N.C. In 1942, Fred Branch transferred to Temple University in Philadelphia.

In May 1943, during World War II, he received his draft notice from the Army and was scheduled to report to Fort Bragg at Fayetteville, N.C., with other black soldiers. A Marine Corps spokesperson said the Army “occasionally transferred black recruits to the Marines” to shore up minority recruitment numbers within the Marine Corps.

Fred Branch was one of those recruits who was “redirected.” He reported to Montford Point in July 1943.

Journalist Anna Hiatt reported that “within a year of completing Marine Corps boot camp, Pfc. Frederick Branch inquired about enrolling in Officer Candidates School (OCS) but was rebuffed.”

A superior told Branch to “shut that blankety-blank stuff up about being an officer. You ain’t going to be no officer.”

All the other branches of the military had “people of color” serving as officers during World War II years, but not the Marines. Many of the Montford Pointers considered Branch to be a dreamer. One Marine told Hiatt: “The Marine Corps simply didn’t want us to become officers, that’s all there is to it.”

The numbers seemed to bear him out. “By late 1944, 18,000 blacks served in the Marine Corps, yet none were officers, despite the fact that many had proven themselves capable and reliable,” Hiatt wrote.

“Moreover, black Marines bore more than their share of the war effort, as 12,000 were deployed overseas in the defense battalions, combat support and steward companies during World War II, but were afforded virtually no opportunity for advancement.”

“Discouraged that blacks would never be allowed to become officers in the Marine Corps, many qualified and capable black Marines did not even bother trying. Undaunted, Fred Branch decided he would persevere in his quest.”

He had advanced to the rank of corporal when he deployed to the Pacific theater in January 1944. While stationed on various South Pacific islands, Cpl. Branch was cited for “meritorious service and outstanding leadership,” and he earned a recommendation to OCS from his commanding officer. He was accepted and reported to OCS training at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia in July 1945.

Fred Branch was the only African-American in his 250-member class, and the significance of his graduation and commissioning as a Marine Corps Reserve second lieutenant was likened by many observers to the accomplishment of Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947.