IN THE NEWS

NAVY CORPSMEN AT MONTFORD POINT MARINE CAMP
WWII

ROBERT STANLEY HAMMOND

Our distinctive logo represents our organization, as well as the 7 African American Medal of Honor recipients of WW2. The 5 represents the 5th Platoons that fought in the European theater of operations in WW2. The 7 stars represents the 7 African American medal of honor winners in the war. These men were finally recognized for their heroism in 1997, 6 posthumously. The only surviving medal of honor winner present at the awards ceremony was 1st Lt. Vernon J. Baker.

LtGen Ronald S Coleman will bestow honors on Mr. Henry L. Baul

Mr. HENRY L. BAUL
  MONTFORD POINT MARINES

BACKGROUND

Henry Baul now at the age of 85 is a WWII living legend who was the ninth (9th) Black American to report for training in August 1942 at Montford Point Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  He was a member of the very first platoon of Black Marines at Montford Point after Franklin Roosevelt passed Executive Order 8802.

On 16 May 2008, in Washington, D.C. LtGen Ronald S. Coleman will bestow honors on Mr. Baul during the 8th & I Evening Parade Ceremonies. Mrs. Sylvia Riley President of the Montford Point Detroit Chapter 19 and Mr. Robert Middleton the secretary for the Montford Point Detroit Chapter 19 will escort Mr. Baul during the ceremony.

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Mr. Willie Rushton

Mr. Willie Rushton was born July 14, 1920 in Nadawah, Alabama, a town so small it is not on most maps. His grandfather, who had been reared in Montgomery, was born a slave. Rushton grew up on a saw mill farm in Atmore, where his father worked as a block setter. He graduated from high school in 1941 and moved to Mobile where he got a job at the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant. He got married in 1942 and was drafted in the spring of 1943. He signed on with the Marines, and was sent to Montford Point, at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina for basic training.

John Gray was born in his grandparents' home in Chickasaw, Alabama on November 27, 1924, and was living in Mobile when the war began. His father had left the family and gone north to work in the steel mills in Youngstown, Ohio. His mother worked as a cook and housekeeper. Gray lied about his age to get a job as a carpenter's helper in the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company in Mobile. He began attending college but was drafted into the Marines in May of 1943. He was assigned to a new segregated section of Camp LeJeune called Montford Point, where all African-American Marines were trained.

Public Broadcast Station

The Veterans History Project is a project of the Library of Congress aimed at collecting oral history interviews, memoirs, letters, diaries, photographs, and other original materials from veterans of World Wars I and II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (2001-present). Those U.S. citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts (such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, etc.) are also encouraged to contribute their personal narratives. Members of the public become part of the Veterans History Project after they donate their materials.

The National WWII Memorial registry is "an individual listing of Americans who contributed to the war effort" comprised of the names of those who sign up for the Registry of Remembrances as well as other official lists compiled by the American Battle Monuments Commission and War and Navy Department Killed in Service rosters. Donation of collection materials like interviews and/or memoirs is not a requirement for inclusion in the National World War II Memorial's registry.

 

 

MPMA Atlanta Chapter Formed

Congratulations to the Atlanta Chapter #5. Recently, Marines and supporting members came together to open the Atlanta, Ga. Chapter. During the ceremonies the Chapter President and members take a group photo of their opening ceremony

Message from the President

Mrs. Linda Sykes

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wanted to express my sincere thanks for your help and support to get the Atlanta Chapter back on the map.  It is because of you we were able to get enough members on Saturday to have a Charter.  I saw the pride in your eyes as you signed your name on the Charter.  It is up to us to grow this chapter and make it a successful association representing the Montford Point Marines. Everything we do in and around Atlanta will be in their honor.  Let’s make them proud and help others along the way. 

Posted: 18 Mar 08

Make Us Proud

Make Us Proud: A video biography depicting the times and experiences of the Marines of Montford point.

 

 

 

The Hellfighters

The Harlem Hellfighters and LT. James Reese: A biography depicting the events of black soldiers during WWI in Europe

 

 

 

 

Naval Station Great Lakes

Honors Montford Point Marines

Capt. Annie B. Andrews, commanding officer of Recruit Training Command, presents a certificate to Edwin Phizer, a member of the Montford Point Marine Association Chicago Chapter 2 during a ceremony honoring the first African-Americans in the Marine Corps at the RTC Chapel last Thursday. Phizer was also the guest speaker at the ceremony that marked African-American Heritage Month.

Golden 13 Officer Dies; Pioneer Helped Redefine the Face of the Navy
Story Number: NNS040225-08
Release Date: 2/25/2004 12:33:00 PM

From Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Justice William S. White, one of the first African-American officers commissioned in the Navy and later a judge in the appellate court system in Chicago, died Feb. 16.

White served in the Navy from October 1943 to March 1946 as a public information officer, making history along with 12 others collectively known as the Golden 13--the first group of African-American naval officers.

“The Golden Thirteen were guiding lights of honor, courage and commitment not only for African-American officers like me, but for all Sailors. They helped make the Navy what it is today,” said Ensign Weurielus Johnson, a civil engineer corps officer attached to the Public Works Center in Norfolk.

Born July 14, 1914, in Chicago, White served principally as the liaison officer between the Navy and African-American newspapers, magazines and civic organizations during World War II, according to his discharge papers.

White was proud of the Navy and his service during World War II.

“He wanted the public to know of the significant contributions of African-Americans to the war effort,” said Paul Stillwell, author of "The Golden Thirteen: Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers."

He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Chicago in 1935 and 1937 respectively, and won the Judge of the Year award from the Cook County (Illinois) Bar Association in 1972.

"He turned to law to make the world fair, to level the playing field and to give everybody a chance, said his daughter, Sara Marilyn Steinbach, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “He wanted to do good for other people.”

Of the original 13 officers, only Graham E. Martin and Frank E. Sublett are still living.

 

Last of the "Golden 13" Dies
Story Number: NNS061121-07
Release Date: 11/21/2006 3:42:00 PM

By Kenneth Cronk, Navy Region Midwest Public Affairs

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- Family and friends bid farewell to Frank Ellis Sublett Nov. 12 at a memorial service in Chicago, honoring the last member of the first group of African-American men to receive commissions as officers in the U.S. Navy.

Nearly 100 visitors heard family members and friends give their recollections of Sublett.

“Grandpa Frank knew his attributes and his strengths and he took them out to the limit,” said grandson Anthony Sublett . “He urged me to do that, but I didn’t at the time, when I was in college. I realize now how important that is and I try to do it.”

The man who wrote the 1993 book of recollections of the Navy’s Golden 13 gave Sublett’s eulogy. Author Paul Stillwell said that during the writing of the book, “I came to know what real heroes and pioneers these men were.”

In the book’s forward, Gen. Colin Powell points out that, “…from the very beginning, they understood…that history had dealt them a stern obligation. They realized that in their hands rested the chance to help open the blind moral eye that America had turned on the question of race.”

A Navy honors team folded the flag that was presented to the widow, Susan Lopez-Sublett by Commander, Navy Region Midwest Rear Admiral Jon W. Bayless Jr.

Sublett was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., March 5, 1920. He attended school in Glencoe and Winnetka, Ill., and spent one year at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He also attended George Williams College in Chicago and Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Sublett entered the Naval Reserve July 7, 1942, and attained the enlisted rate of Machinist’s Mate 1st Class prior to receiving his commission. Following commissioning, he was assigned to the Naval Training Station, Hampton Institute, Va., and then to the Naval Local Defense Forces in the 12th Naval District, San Francisco. He served with the Service Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet and the Naval Operating Force, Eniwetok Island, Marshall Islands. He was released from active duty in 1946.

Lt. j.g. Sublett earned the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

 

New Marine Video and Site