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Black Marines in the Corps
June
1942. Black Marine Units were established at Montford Point NC. Recruit training
was undertaken at this post. These Marines were assigned to segregated units,
Ammo Companies and Depot Labor Companies and two Defense Battalions, the
51st & 52nd, led by white officers. |
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The first black Marine recipient
of the Medal of Honor was PFC James Anderson Jr. of Compton Ca, for action
in Vietnam on Feb 28 1967. This Marine gave his life protecting others in
his unit from an enemy grenade. |
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| A Depot Special Bulletin #1-44 dated 28 July
43 references an article printed in Time Magazine on 24 July, 1944. "...Last
week, as a footnote to the invasion of Saipan, Time correspondent Robert
Sherrod wrote about the first to see action: Negro Marines, under fire for
the first time, have rated a universal 4.0 (Annapolis mark of perfection)
on Saipan. Some landed with the assault waves. All in the four service companies
have been under fire at one time or another during the battle. Some have
have been wounded, several of them have been killed in action. 'COOL IN COMBAT'
When Japs counterattacked the 4th Marine Division near Charan Kanoa, twelve
Negroes were thrown into the line. Their white officers said they accounted
for about 15 Japs....They were under intense mortar fire and artillery fire
as well as rifle and machine gun fire. They kept advancing until the counter
attack was stopped. Negro Marines were at their best while performing their
normal duties. Credited with being the workingest men on Saipan, they performed
prodigious feats of labor both while under fire and after beachheads were
well secured. Some unloaded boats for three days with little or no sleep,
working in water waist deep....On an open transport, where a detachment of
Negroes was left to load small boats, they volunteered to unload and tend
the wounded who were brought to the transport...." 2. To the 18th, 19th,
and 20th Depot Companies and the 3rd Ammunition Company, congratulations
from their Commanding Officer. Well Done." Signed Earl H Phillips Col. USMC
Commanding. Since Korea, black Marines have served in all occupational fields in
the Corps. The late sixties and early seventies saw racial problems not only
in civil America but in the Marines as well. The Corps took immediate steps
to ensure that each Marine was judged on one criteria only, is he or she
a good Marine. Today 26,679 black men and women proudly wear the Eagle Globe
and Anchor. |
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Col. Charles F. Bolden, Born Aug.
19 1946 in Columbia. Accepted his commission from Annapolis in 1968. Originally
an A-6 pilot the Col. flew more than 100 combat missions in Vietnam. May
of 1980 he was accepted as an astronaut, and has crewed shuttle missions
as the first black Marine in space. |
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