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thedrifter
12-16-06, 08:04 AM
Published on Saturday, December 16, 2006 <br />
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Montford Point's Marines broke the race barrier <br />
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By Michael Futch <br />
Staff writer <br />
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Fayetteville’s Cosmas Eaglin Sr. and James Simpson earned the title...

thedrifter
12-16-06, 08:06 AM
Published on Saturday, December 16, 2006

Museum tells story of military trailblazers

By Michael Futch
Staff writer

JACKSONVILLE — Finney Greggs served in the Marine Corps from 1960 through 1989, retiring as a first sergeant.

Yet, Greggs said, he never heard more than bits and pieces about the Montford Point Marines and their significance until two decades ago, when he was transferred to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville.

For the past three years, he has been telling the story of this country’s first black Marines as director of the Montford Point Marines Museum.

The museum is open three days a week, operating on what has been called “the hallowed grounds” of Montford Point. That’s now Camp Johnson, a satellite of Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.

The first black Marines trained at Montford Point from 1942 through 1949, while the military was still segregated.

“This is not a black endeavor or, in the vernacular, ‘a black thing,’” said Greggs, who is 66. “It’s American history and Marine Corps history. And these men should be enshrined. They proved their mettle.”

The museum, still in its first stage, is housed in the east wing of a building sharing space with the camp’s Field Medical School. Because of space limitations, many donated items sit in storage. The future site of the Montford Point Marines Monument and Memorial Park has been designated across the street from the museum.

Visitors — and on average, that’s only about 35 people a month — can peruse displays of Montford Point’s leaders. These men include Sgt. Maj. Edgar R. Huff, who assumed responsibility for drill instructors and later became the first black Marine to complete 30 years of regular service, and Sgt. Maj. Gilbert H. “Hashmark” Johnson, a Montford Point recruit and tough-as-nails drill instructor who is regarded as the camp’s grand old man.

In 1974, Montford Point Camp was renamed Camp Johnson in his honor.

Museum visitors can glean some of the rich history of the men of Montford Point through artifacts, documents, personal papers and vintage photographs. “There were more blacks involved than people realize in the war,” said Greggs.

Of the nearly 20,000 men who trained at Montford Point, Greggs estimates that no more than 3,000 are alive.

“We’re putting the word out we want to talk to them,” he said. “Many of them have passed on. But we’re still trying to get up with some of them. Many of them are still out there. In nursing homes, handicapped, that sort of thing.”

Ellie