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"Breaking a tradition of 167 years, the U.S. Marine Corps started enlisting Negroes on June 1, 1942. The first class of 1,200 Negro volunteers began their training 3 months later as members of the 51st Composite Defense Battalion at Montford Point, a section of the 200-square-mile Marine Base, Camp Leheune, at New River, NC. The first Negro to enlist was Howard P. Perry, shown here." |
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"The first Negro to be commissioned in the Marine Corps has his second lieutenant's bars pinned on by his wife. He is Frederick C. Branch of Charlotte, NC." |
