Montford Point is so important in the study of U.S. military history – it’s where African-Americans who joined the Marine Corps were sent for boot camp training from 1942-49.
Reportedly, about 20,000 black men successfully passed through the Montford Point segregated camp in Onslow County, N.C., located just a few miles from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where the white Marines were stationed.
Shedrack M. A. “Candyman” Hannibal Jr. was one of 13 men from Key West, Fla., who joined the Marine Corps in the 1940s and passed through Montford Point.
Hannibal, a graduate of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, served two years as a Marine fighting during World War II in the South Pacific.
A community memorial to the 13 Key West Montford Pointers, which is located in the Key West Veterans Memorial Garden at Bayview Park, was completed in 2021.
Over the years, the Marine Corps has come to embrace and duly recognize the contributions made by Montford Point Marines…without attempting to erase the racial inequities that existed during the World War II years.
But it remains a bit of a mystery – for whom was Montford Point named?
Historians seem to think that the trail detours from “Montford” to an ample collection of prominent families with the “Montfort” surname, and the answer could be attributed to a simple human error of transposition of the last letter – from a “t” to a “d” – that was never corrected.
The Camp Lejeune chronology shows that in 1791, a Dr. William J. Montfort Sr. bought land known as “Mumford’s Mill” at Montford Point, which juts out into the New River. It is here that Dr. Montfort built a splendid plantation house in the late 1700s, now the site of Camp Johnson.
Others point to a Lt. Col. (Dr.) William Joseph Montfort, born in 1839, who served in the State Militia during the Civil War.
Or perhaps the namesake was a different Dr. William J. Montfort Sr., a physician who became Onslow County’s first Superintendent of Health in 1878.
This branch of the Montfort family had significant landholdings that were centered around a water-power grist mill on Wallace Creek, a tributary of the New River.
The original mill was constructed in 1779, by Col. George Mitchell, leader of the Onslow County militia during the American Revolution. The mill was subsequently owned by Gen. Edward Ward and Dr. William J. Montfort Sr., according to historical documents.
A historical marker aboard Camp Lejeune notes the former site of the Mitchell-Ward-Montfort Mill.
The
Congressional Gold Medal was authorized for the Montford Point Marines in 2011.
The
late Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., was a lead sponsor of the legislation in the U.S.
Senate, and the resolution was signed into law on Nov. 23, 2011, by President
Barack Obama.
The
Montford Point Marine Memorial is located in the Lejeune Memorial Gardens on
Montford Landing Road in Jacksonville.
A project of the National Montford Point Marine Association, the memorial was completed in 2018 and is open to the public.
It is dedicated to the legacy of the African-Americans who trained at Montford Point.
A raised bronze statue represents an outstretched body of Montford Point Marine; the angle of incline symbolizes the uphill struggle for equality they overcame.
The Marine is moving forward, armed with a rifle…his ammo can is behind him, signifying the Montford Point Marines’ transition to infantry men from their assigned duties as ammunition suppliers and other support roles.
The
back side of the pedestal shows a map of the Pacific sites where the Montford
Point Marines served during World War II.
A wall of stars includes approximately 20,000 gold stars representing each Montford Point Marines. The absence of names on the wall is due to the fact that no complete roster of Montford Pointers has ever been located.
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