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| Copyright Notice Copyright © 2004, 2007 by Ronald and Judy Culp All rights reserved on all material on all pages in this Web site. For information on reprinting material from this site, please contact us. This page last updated on Tuesday, January 13, 2009. |
| Judy and Ronald Culp |
| The First Black United States Marines: The Men of Montford Point, 1942 - 1946 |
| U. S. Marines Nonfiction |
| ISBN-13: 978- 0 - 7864 - 3000 - 0 |
| July 2, 2007 |
Early in 1942, blacks were semi-citizens of a segregated nation. To fight and win a two-ocean war
America required that unprecedented numbers of men and women be enlisted and trained for military
service, yet a significant source of new recruits was ignored by the United States Marine Corps – there
were absolutely NO black Marines. That service had enlisted “no Negro” in its 144-year existence and the
Major General Commandant, Thomas Holcomb, publicly declared his opposition to any change in policy
regarding blacks. He saw the Corps as an exclusive “club” blacks had no right to join! Holcomb went on
to say, “If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather
have the whites.”
America required that unprecedented numbers of men and women be enlisted and trained for military
service, yet a significant source of new recruits was ignored by the United States Marine Corps – there
were absolutely NO black Marines. That service had enlisted “no Negro” in its 144-year existence and the
Major General Commandant, Thomas Holcomb, publicly declared his opposition to any change in policy
regarding blacks. He saw the Corps as an exclusive “club” blacks had no right to join! Holcomb went on
to say, “If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather
have the whites.”
(Above) "Judo instruction is one
of the high spots in the life of the
latest addition to the Leatherneck
Marines here. An instructor shows
a recruit how to make the enemy's
bayonet useless. Cpl. Arvin Lou
Ghazlo, USMC, giving judo
instructions to Pvt. Ernest C.
Jones, USMCR." (L-R: Jones,
Ghazlo.) .Montford Point Camp,
NC. April 1943.. Still Picture
Branch (NNSP), National
Archives, Washington, DC.
of the high spots in the life of the
latest addition to the Leatherneck
Marines here. An instructor shows
a recruit how to make the enemy's
bayonet useless. Cpl. Arvin Lou
Ghazlo, USMC, giving judo
instructions to Pvt. Ernest C.
Jones, USMCR." (L-R: Jones,
Ghazlo.) .Montford Point Camp,
NC. April 1943.. Still Picture
Branch (NNSP), National
Archives, Washington, DC.
When ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to accept blacks,
the Corps complied. However, in doing so, Headquarters Marine
Corps made plans that would impose the subject of race onto the
Corps to the least possible degree – blacks would train in an isolated
camp and then be assigned to some out-of-the-way station. Because
the Corps had never had black Marines, officers admitted they did not
“know how to handle them.” White officers were “afraid of them.”
Because there had never been any black Marines, there was no
tradition of service in the Corps – no one joined because his father,
brother, or uncle had been a Marine.
By the end of World War II, 19,168 blacks proved themselves as
Marines. They made up almost four percent of the Corps’ enlisted
strength. No blacks received commissions as Marine officers while
the fighting raged, but four black enlisted men were recommended
by their white officers and sent to Purdue University under the Navy’s
V-12 program. All four went on to receive commissions as second
lieutenants.
Most whites and many blacks do not know there were black Marines in
World War II. Even fewer know that 12,738 of the black Marines
served overseas where some fought and died in the intense
amphibious assaults on the Marianas Islands of Saipan and Guam,
on the islands of Peliliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After VJ-Day, some
of the black Marines took part in the occupation of China and Japan.
This book is based on primary and secondary source research and
interviews with some of the original Montford Point Marines -
including Eugene Smith, Glenn White, Tuner Blount, Adner Batts Jr.,
Paul Hagan, Orvia Cottman, Melvin Borden, Herbert Brewer, and
Finney Greggs.
the Corps complied. However, in doing so, Headquarters Marine
Corps made plans that would impose the subject of race onto the
Corps to the least possible degree – blacks would train in an isolated
camp and then be assigned to some out-of-the-way station. Because
the Corps had never had black Marines, officers admitted they did not
“know how to handle them.” White officers were “afraid of them.”
Because there had never been any black Marines, there was no
tradition of service in the Corps – no one joined because his father,
brother, or uncle had been a Marine.
By the end of World War II, 19,168 blacks proved themselves as
Marines. They made up almost four percent of the Corps’ enlisted
strength. No blacks received commissions as Marine officers while
the fighting raged, but four black enlisted men were recommended
by their white officers and sent to Purdue University under the Navy’s
V-12 program. All four went on to receive commissions as second
lieutenants.
Most whites and many blacks do not know there were black Marines in
World War II. Even fewer know that 12,738 of the black Marines
served overseas where some fought and died in the intense
amphibious assaults on the Marianas Islands of Saipan and Guam,
on the islands of Peliliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After VJ-Day, some
of the black Marines took part in the occupation of China and Japan.
This book is based on primary and secondary source research and
interviews with some of the original Montford Point Marines -
including Eugene Smith, Glenn White, Tuner Blount, Adner Batts Jr.,
Paul Hagan, Orvia Cottman, Melvin Borden, Herbert Brewer, and
Finney Greggs.
