Shaffer
06-11-03, 12:07 PM
About a mile south of the Beirut Memorial is a 5fi-square-mile piece of land between Northeast Creek and New River. It's a place of history, a place of memories.
It's the place where the first black Marines were based -- Montford Point. They weren't invited, drafted or even asked to be there. They had to fight for the right to defend their country as U.S. Marines.
Now one of the keepers of that history is trying hard to preserve it. Retired Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Finney Greggs, the Montford Point Museum's new director, is scouting the nation for artifacts from the times black Marines trained and lived at Montford Point.
Greggs, former director of the Onslow County Red Cross, is looking for letters, diaries, photographs and artifacts.
"We know there are others out there in their 70s or 80s right now," Greggs said. "The heirs of those who have passed away might also have artifacts."
http://www.newbernsunjournal.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=9367
It's the place where the first black Marines were based -- Montford Point. They weren't invited, drafted or even asked to be there. They had to fight for the right to defend their country as U.S. Marines.
Now one of the keepers of that history is trying hard to preserve it. Retired Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Finney Greggs, the Montford Point Museum's new director, is scouting the nation for artifacts from the times black Marines trained and lived at Montford Point.
Greggs, former director of the Onslow County Red Cross, is looking for letters, diaries, photographs and artifacts.
"We know there are others out there in their 70s or 80s right now," Greggs said. "The heirs of those who have passed away might also have artifacts."
http://www.newbernsunjournal.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=9367