After World War II…nothing changed at Montford Point

Exemplary battleground performance by the Montford Point Marines in the Pacific islands during World War II did not carry much weight with the Marine Corps brass in the post-war era, as segregation was still the standard practice.

 

Staff Sgt. Timerlate Kirven and Cpl. Samuel J. Love Sr. received Purple Hearts for wounds received in the Battle of Saipan during World War II. 

They were first African-American Marines decorated by the famed 2nd Marine Division in the Pacific.

Dr. Judson Jeffries (shown below), an African-American studies professor at Ohio State University in Columbus, said immediately after the war, the Marine Corps actually reduced the percentage of African-Americans and assigned black Marines to segregated “general duty units.”

 

Furthermore, Montford Point in Onslow County, N.C., continued as a segregated training facility, still a sub-unit of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

Writing for History.com, journalist Farrell Evans (shown below) said that in early 1948, a group of national black leaders met with President Harry S. Truman to seek an end to segregation in the military. 

A. Philip Randolph, a legendary labor union organizer and civil rights advocate, told the president:

 

“The mood among Negroes of this country is that they will never bear arms again until all forms of bias and discrimination are abolished.”

Furthermore, Randolph informed President Truman that “if he didn’t issue an Executive Order ending segregation in the armed forces, African-Americans would resist the draft.”

At a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Randolph testified: “I personally will advise Negroes to refuse to fight as slaves for a democracy they cannot possess and cannot enjoy.”

Clearly, Randolph and colleagues were playing hard ball. Farrell reported that in July 1948, “with an election looming and under intense pressure from the civil rights leaders,” Truman signed an Executive Order prohibiting segregation based on race in the military.

 

“It is essential,” Truman said, “that there be maintained in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy, with equality of treatment and opportunity for all who serve in our country’s defense.”

The order did not include a deadline but stated that “integration should occur as quickly as possible,” Farrell said.

“The Marine Corps was slow to carry out integration orders” and chose to deactivate Montford Point rather than desegregate it as a training facility, Dr. Jeffries said.

Montford Point was decommissioned Sept. 9, 1949, and future black recruits would be assigned for basic training at Parris Island, S.C., and in San Diego.

Montford Point “alumni” carried on. The Korean War (1950-53) marked a turning point, and the Marine Corps “quickly and fully integrated in June of 1950.”

According to a post on the MarineParents.com website, “the troops were much more concerned with staying alive than concentrating on the skin color of others in their outfits.”

“Montford Point Marines were important in all major campaigns of Korea, from serving as frontline troops to being involved with service and supply units. Less than a decade later, these Marines played an integral part in helping stop the spread of communism through the Vietnam War.”

The fighting spirit of the Montford Point Marines is preserved today by the National Montford Point Marine Association (NMPMA), which was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1965 “to perpetuate the legacy of the first African-American Marines who trained at Montford Point on the New River.

 

Membership in the NMPMA is open to veterans and active-duty members of all branches of the U.S. armed forces regardless of race, creed or natural origin. Auxiliary membership is open to family members of veterans and active members, including spouses, siblings and children.

 

The stated purpose of the association “is to support educational assistance programs, veterans programs and promotion of community services.”

Chapters are located in military friendly communities across the country, including Jacksonville, Charlotte and High Point within North Carolina.