Page 2 - Montford Pointers News Today

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Mallorie Berger said she always knew her late grandfather, Private Mauricio Burns, was a U.S. veteran. But it wasn't until last year she

In 2012, President Obama signed a bill into law awarding the 20,000 Black Marines who served at Montford Point a Congressional Gold Medal.

80 years after the Montford Point Camp was established to train enlisted African Americans, relatives and other Marines fight to document their contributions before it’s too late.

History has largely overlooked the trailblazers who were the first Black men to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, the Montford Point Marines, named after the segregated section of Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where they trained.

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Onslow residents can visit these places to honor America this Fourth of July, or any day, as the area is chock full of places honoring freedom.

Alfonzia and Timerlate Kirven were Montford Point Marines, the first African Americans allowed in that branch of the U.S. military, starting in 1942.

If she had to compare the Montford Point Marines to someone, National Montford Point Marine Association (NMPMA) President Carmen Cole would liken them to Rosa Parks, who made history in 1955 refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. “Had she not done that, I would probably have never been afforded the opportunity to ride in the front of the many public transportation buses that I had to take to school and to work,” said Cole, a retired chief warrant officer 3. The Montford...