Photos

May 30, 2017

Jim Gentile, the project liaison for the Colp Plaza Veterans Memorial Committee, gives a speech to guests, May 27, at the Colp Area Veterans Celebration, Dedication and Remembrance Ceremony, in Colp, Illinois. The speech honored fallen service members and four African American Marines from Colp, who were among the first black Americans to join Marine Corps during World War II. Nearly 20,000 African-Americans joined the Marine Corps in 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a “presidential directive giving African Americans an opportunity to be recruited in the Marine Corps,” according to the Montford Point Marines Association website. They didn’t receive recruit training at San Diego or Parris Island, however, but Camp Montford Point, N.C., a segregated training site for African American Marine recruits. For the next seven years, the camp remained opened until it became desegregated. The four Marines are Sol Griffin, Jr.; James L. Kirby, Early Taylor, Jr. and Archibald Mosley. These Marines, among many other Montford Point Marines across the country, were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that can be given to a civilian by Congress, in 2012. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Bryan A. Peterson)

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This photograph is considered public domain and has been cleared for release. If you would like to republish please give the photographer appropriate credit. Further, any commercial or non-commercial use of this photograph or any other DoD image must be made in compliance with guidance found at https://www.dimoc.mil/resources/limitations, which pertains to intellectual property restrictions (e.g., copyright and trademark, including the use of official emblems, insignia, names and slogans), warnings regarding use of images of identifiable personnel, appearance of endorsement, and related matters.

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Jim Gentile, the project liaison for the Colp Plaza Veterans Memorial Committee, gives a speech to guests, May 27, at the Colp Area Veterans Celebration, Dedication and Remembrance Ceremony, in Colp, Illinois. The speech honored fallen service members and four African American Marines from Colp, who were among the first black Americans to join Marine Corps during World War II. Nearly 20,000 African-Americans joined the Marine Corps in 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a “presidential directive giving African Americans an opportunity to be recruited in the Marine Corps,” according to the Montford Point Marines Association website. They didn’t receive recruit training at San Diego or Parris Island, however, but Camp Montford Point, N.C., a segregated training site for African American Marine recruits. For the next seven years, the camp remained opened until it became desegregated. The four Marines are Sol Griffin, Jr.; James L. Kirby, Early Taylor, Jr. and Archibald Mosley. These Marines, among many other Montford Point Marines across the country, were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that can be given to a civilian by Congress, in 2012. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Bryan A. Peterson)
270517-M-TM093-080.JPG Photo By: GySgt. Bryan A. Peterson

May 30, 2017
COLP, Ill - Jim Gentile, the project liaison for the Colp Plaza Veterans Memorial Committee, gives a speech to guests, May 27, at the Colp Area Veterans Celebration, Dedication and Remembrance Ceremony, in Colp, Illinois. The speech honored fallen service members and four African American Marines from Colp, who were among the first black Americans to join Marine Corps during World War II. Nearly 20,000 African-Americans joined the Marine Corps in 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a “presidential directive giving African Americans an opportunity to be recruited in the Marine Corps,” according to the Montford Point Marines Association website. They didn’t receive recruit training at San Diego or Parris Island, however, but Camp Montford Point, N.C., a segregated training site for African American Marine recruits. For the next seven years, the camp remained opened until it became desegregated. The four Marines are Sol Griffin, Jr.; James L. Kirby, Early Taylor, Jr. and Archibald Mosley. These Marines, among many other Montford Point Marines across the country, were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that can be given to a civilian by Congress, in 2012. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Bryan A. Peterson)


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This photograph is considered public domain and has been cleared for release. If you would like to republish please give the photographer appropriate credit. Further, any commercial or non-commercial use of this photograph or any other DoD image must be made in compliance with guidance found at http://www.dimoc.mil/resources/limitations.html , which pertains to intellectual property restrictions (e.g., copyright and trademark, including the use of official emblems, insignia, names and slogans), warnings regarding use of images of identifiable personnel, appearance of endorsement, and related matters.



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