thedrifter
02-08-09, 06:01 AM
Montford Point Marines remember a segregated Corps
Comments 3 | Recommend 2
February 7, 2009 - 5:48 PM
AMANDA HICKEY
When retired Sgt. Paul Hagan came back from fighting in the Korean War, he said his commanding officer didn't believe Hagan had earned the medals he wore proudly on his chest.
The officer sent a letter to the Department of the Navy stating his concern, and received a letter back that said the CO was right - Hagan still had one more medal coming.
"They didn't even apologize, they just wanted to bust me," he said, with anger still in his eyes decades later. "I still was treated wrong. They should have apologized."
Hagan is one of the Marines featured in the Montford Point Museum, which details the history of Montford Point, the camp where 20,000 black Marines were trained prior to the Marine Corps integration in 1949.
Hagan joined the Marine Corps in 1946, four years after Montford Point opened, to get away from his farm in Georgia.
"I saw that blue uniform ... and I thought ‘I don't want to join the Army and Navy. I want to join the Marine Corps," he said.
Retired Master Sgt. Adner Batts Jr. also wanted to get out of his hometown, but he didn't go far after his 1948 enlistment.
The Hampstead native wanted to "see the world" but ended up stationed only 35 miles north of home.
Batts didn't know what to expect when it came to basic training. Having grown up in a segregated North Carolina, seeing only other black faces didn't surprise him - but he didn't expect it either.
"That was something I expected in Jacksonville but not on base," he said.
After basic training, however, he and three other black privates were stationed at Hadnot Point, an all white base, for cooking school.
"We were the only privates," Batts said. The white Marines had been promoted to private first class immediately after graduation.
It took a general's noticed to see that the three cooks received their promotion, he remembered.
"Blacks (weren't) wanted in the Marine Corps. This was, and is, the elite military organization in the world," Batts said.
Knowing that, he said, inspired him to prove that he could be a Marine.
Retired Master Sgt. Turner Blount had his eye on an Army career in 1943 when a friend talked him into enlisting in the Marine Corps.
He remembers that when it was time to go to a rifle range, he would have to go to a barge and travel to the range by water rather than get in a truck and drive.
"They were afraid to have blacks with weapons riding (around)," he said.
By 1949, Montford Point was no longer a black-only training facility.
"It was wonderful. It's what I thought it should have been all along," Batts said.
Things are different in today's Corps. Marines work side by side, regardless of race.
Cpl. Jessica Rhines, who is currently stationed with Headquarters Support Battallion, Bravo Company, joined the Marine Corps after high school as a way to pay for college.
"I feel as though it is important for every Marine, not just African Americans, to be educated and taught about those (Montford Point) Marines that start a new movement. They made opportunities then for future generations now," she said.
In her current office, Rhines is the only African-American as well as the only woman - something that she says doesn't make her uncomfortable.
That was not, however, the case in her last unit.
"I felt alone, abandoned and misunderstood. I was not the only African-American; however, I did not feel connected to them. ... I worked in an environment then where I was the only female and African-American. I was told that African-Americans did not belong in the Marine Corps and that females belong at home, pregnant and barefoot," she said in a written response to The Daily News.
It is the Marines Corps diversity, however, that make the branch so unique, she said.
"All of us combined make for an interesting line of work and workplace. I just wish that certain individuals with alternative views would recognize this and accept it as is," she said.
Today's diverse Marine Corps is what Blount always hoped for.
"We think we had a lot to do with the way things are today," he said of the Montford Point Marines. "We sort of paved the way."
Contact Jacksonville/Onslow County reporter Amanda Hickey at 910-219-8461 or ahickey@freedomenc.com.
Ellie
Comments 3 | Recommend 2
February 7, 2009 - 5:48 PM
AMANDA HICKEY
When retired Sgt. Paul Hagan came back from fighting in the Korean War, he said his commanding officer didn't believe Hagan had earned the medals he wore proudly on his chest.
The officer sent a letter to the Department of the Navy stating his concern, and received a letter back that said the CO was right - Hagan still had one more medal coming.
"They didn't even apologize, they just wanted to bust me," he said, with anger still in his eyes decades later. "I still was treated wrong. They should have apologized."
Hagan is one of the Marines featured in the Montford Point Museum, which details the history of Montford Point, the camp where 20,000 black Marines were trained prior to the Marine Corps integration in 1949.
Hagan joined the Marine Corps in 1946, four years after Montford Point opened, to get away from his farm in Georgia.
"I saw that blue uniform ... and I thought ‘I don't want to join the Army and Navy. I want to join the Marine Corps," he said.
Retired Master Sgt. Adner Batts Jr. also wanted to get out of his hometown, but he didn't go far after his 1948 enlistment.
The Hampstead native wanted to "see the world" but ended up stationed only 35 miles north of home.
Batts didn't know what to expect when it came to basic training. Having grown up in a segregated North Carolina, seeing only other black faces didn't surprise him - but he didn't expect it either.
"That was something I expected in Jacksonville but not on base," he said.
After basic training, however, he and three other black privates were stationed at Hadnot Point, an all white base, for cooking school.
"We were the only privates," Batts said. The white Marines had been promoted to private first class immediately after graduation.
It took a general's noticed to see that the three cooks received their promotion, he remembered.
"Blacks (weren't) wanted in the Marine Corps. This was, and is, the elite military organization in the world," Batts said.
Knowing that, he said, inspired him to prove that he could be a Marine.
Retired Master Sgt. Turner Blount had his eye on an Army career in 1943 when a friend talked him into enlisting in the Marine Corps.
He remembers that when it was time to go to a rifle range, he would have to go to a barge and travel to the range by water rather than get in a truck and drive.
"They were afraid to have blacks with weapons riding (around)," he said.
By 1949, Montford Point was no longer a black-only training facility.
"It was wonderful. It's what I thought it should have been all along," Batts said.
Things are different in today's Corps. Marines work side by side, regardless of race.
Cpl. Jessica Rhines, who is currently stationed with Headquarters Support Battallion, Bravo Company, joined the Marine Corps after high school as a way to pay for college.
"I feel as though it is important for every Marine, not just African Americans, to be educated and taught about those (Montford Point) Marines that start a new movement. They made opportunities then for future generations now," she said.
In her current office, Rhines is the only African-American as well as the only woman - something that she says doesn't make her uncomfortable.
That was not, however, the case in her last unit.
"I felt alone, abandoned and misunderstood. I was not the only African-American; however, I did not feel connected to them. ... I worked in an environment then where I was the only female and African-American. I was told that African-Americans did not belong in the Marine Corps and that females belong at home, pregnant and barefoot," she said in a written response to The Daily News.
It is the Marines Corps diversity, however, that make the branch so unique, she said.
"All of us combined make for an interesting line of work and workplace. I just wish that certain individuals with alternative views would recognize this and accept it as is," she said.
Today's diverse Marine Corps is what Blount always hoped for.
"We think we had a lot to do with the way things are today," he said of the Montford Point Marines. "We sort of paved the way."
Contact Jacksonville/Onslow County reporter Amanda Hickey at 910-219-8461 or ahickey@freedomenc.com.
Ellie