thedrifter
02-15-06, 06:45 AM
Four black Marines were among the first
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter
Proudly wearing his red Marine Corps League blazer, 81-year-old John F. Gray Sr. was one of four local men to be honored Tuesday for being among the first black Marines some six decades ago.
Gray, along with Willie Heard Rushton, 85, Thomas N. Reed, 85, and Robert Green Jr., 89, received an enthusiastic ovation from the audience of hundreds of students and parents who packed the auditorium at Ariel W. Holloway Elementary School on Mobile's north side.
"These men made history. These men are history," Phaidra Thompson, the chairwoman for the Black History Month program told the audience.
Those being honored helped break the Marine color barrier between 1942 and 1949 at Montford Point Camp in North Carolina. They were among some 20,000 black recruits who underwent basic training at Montford Point before the Marines Corps was integrated, according to retired Marine Lt. Col. Janice Mitchell, the program's featured speaker.
"Conditions at Montford Point were deplorable," Mitchell said, noting that the camp was infested with mosquitoes and poisonous snakes. She also said, "The black Marines were required to stay in overcrowded huts" and had to withstand racist name-calling and physical abuse.
But Mitchell said that as more abuse was heaped upon the black recruits, the more determined they were to succeed.
She noted that "today, Marines serve in a fully integrated Corps."
The Marine Corps boot camps for all recruits today are conducted at Parris Island, S.C., and San Diego.
Mitchell, who is black, retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in January after 28 years of service. One of nine children, she was educated in public schools in Mobile and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a sergeant with the Mobile Police Department, where she is supervisor of the child abuse detail.
Before the program, Gray told a reporter that he entered boot camp at Montford Point in early May 1943.
He said, "Oh, it was tough. You had to ford through streams, and they'd (the drill instructors) yell at you and grab you and shake you." He went on to fight in the South Pacific during World War II and later completed college. He said he retired in 1998 after a career of more than 50 years as an educator with the Mobile County Public School System.
Reed told a reporter after the program that he also went through boot camp at Montford Point in 1943 and also served in the South Pacific during World War II.
As for the honor he and the other black Marines received Tuesday, Reed said, "I'm glad to still be around to be a part of this occasion."
Another local Montford Point veteran -- William P. Cassino Jr. -- was unable to attend the program, a spokeswoman said.
Tuesday's program featured presentations by members of each of the school's five grades, as well as its kindergarten class.
The event concluded with fourth-grade teacher Alfreda Davis leading the audience in singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
Ellie
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter
Proudly wearing his red Marine Corps League blazer, 81-year-old John F. Gray Sr. was one of four local men to be honored Tuesday for being among the first black Marines some six decades ago.
Gray, along with Willie Heard Rushton, 85, Thomas N. Reed, 85, and Robert Green Jr., 89, received an enthusiastic ovation from the audience of hundreds of students and parents who packed the auditorium at Ariel W. Holloway Elementary School on Mobile's north side.
"These men made history. These men are history," Phaidra Thompson, the chairwoman for the Black History Month program told the audience.
Those being honored helped break the Marine color barrier between 1942 and 1949 at Montford Point Camp in North Carolina. They were among some 20,000 black recruits who underwent basic training at Montford Point before the Marines Corps was integrated, according to retired Marine Lt. Col. Janice Mitchell, the program's featured speaker.
"Conditions at Montford Point were deplorable," Mitchell said, noting that the camp was infested with mosquitoes and poisonous snakes. She also said, "The black Marines were required to stay in overcrowded huts" and had to withstand racist name-calling and physical abuse.
But Mitchell said that as more abuse was heaped upon the black recruits, the more determined they were to succeed.
She noted that "today, Marines serve in a fully integrated Corps."
The Marine Corps boot camps for all recruits today are conducted at Parris Island, S.C., and San Diego.
Mitchell, who is black, retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in January after 28 years of service. One of nine children, she was educated in public schools in Mobile and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a sergeant with the Mobile Police Department, where she is supervisor of the child abuse detail.
Before the program, Gray told a reporter that he entered boot camp at Montford Point in early May 1943.
He said, "Oh, it was tough. You had to ford through streams, and they'd (the drill instructors) yell at you and grab you and shake you." He went on to fight in the South Pacific during World War II and later completed college. He said he retired in 1998 after a career of more than 50 years as an educator with the Mobile County Public School System.
Reed told a reporter after the program that he also went through boot camp at Montford Point in 1943 and also served in the South Pacific during World War II.
As for the honor he and the other black Marines received Tuesday, Reed said, "I'm glad to still be around to be a part of this occasion."
Another local Montford Point veteran -- William P. Cassino Jr. -- was unable to attend the program, a spokeswoman said.
Tuesday's program featured presentations by members of each of the school's five grades, as well as its kindergarten class.
The event concluded with fourth-grade teacher Alfreda Davis leading the audience in singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
Ellie