Montford Point Marines awarded Congressional Gold Medals
370 Marine veterans trooped to DC today for the presentation to them of the highest civilian honor – the Congressional Gold Medal. They were all black and they were the first Marines. All had attended segregated basic training at Montford Point, NC between 1942 and 1949, for that, they call themselves Montford Point Marines.
Richard sends us a link from USAToday which reports on the event today.
“I hate to use the word overdue … but it’s time,” said Yoder Faulkner, 81, of Detroit, who was raised in Winston-Salem, N.C., and trained at Montford Point before serving in Korea. “A lot of men died not knowing … as though it just didn’t matter, you know?”
As the ceremony got under way, the pride — and the respect for the Montford Point Marines — was evident. Smiles brightened wrinkled faces; backs straightened, and chests went out.
“I never expected that America would, quote, ‘evolve’ this way,” said Riley Ford, 81, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who also trained at Montford Point before going to Korea. “I never expected America would evolve to this point in my lifetime.”
Welcome home.
Category: Veterans Issues
Good for them …. No… Good for us!
“Evolve” to what point? The point at which several hundred men get awarded the highest civilian honor in the most powerful nation on earth by sheer virtue of their pigmentation? How about the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of melanin-challenged soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors that did exactly the same job during the same period of time and didn’t get the pandering and fawning and supplication from the PC idiots in charge of this clown car?
Let me say this clearly: fuck off skh.pcola
Those with a lack of melonin only had to fight the Japanese.
The Montford Marines had to fight for the fight to serve and defend a nation that treated them like third class citizens, both before and AFTER they served this nation.
skh.pcola: hard to believe you can see well enough to type through those little tiny slits in the pillow case that’s on your head!
@ 2. Evolved to the point that people aren’t judged by their pigmentation. My father wasn’t awarded his Bronze Star until 50 years after the Battle of the Bulge, why? Because he had too much pigmentation. He was refused service at a cafe in El Paso, while waiting for his Honorable Discharge, why? Because he had to much pigmentation. 50+ years ago I was pushed around and called “a dirty Mexican”, why? For having too much pigmentation. Until you’ve been the victim of racism, you should hold your comments.
Get a grip and get real. Skh.pcola made a few legitimate points.
When I saw that newscast on CNN this afternoon, I was truly happy for those men. They deserve recognition, as do the Tuskegee Airmen. All serving military personnel deserve recognition.
And unless you’ve been subjected to discrimination and prejudice, you don’t have a leg to stand on.
Until you’ve been the victim of racism, you should hold your comments.
And unless you’ve been subjected to discrimination and prejudice, you don’t have a leg to stand on.
That isn’t just a screwy rationale. That is bullshit. Life is a bitch for all of us.
skh.pcola got it right, and good for you on having the moral courage to speak up. Are we going to give former WACs – who went to segregated training until the late 70’s – the same Gold Medal?
Everything is relative. I would rather be a healthy black man than a little white kid stricken with Cerebral Palsy and confined for life to a wheelchair. So count your blessings and quit whining.
@7 — You need to understand the difference between integrated training and co-ed training.
Ex-PH2, thank you. Rik, there is a huge difference between segregating units by sex vs segregating same sex units because of race. Granted, both conditions are a matter of chance, but neither should be a factor in defining a person.
@8. Really? Enlighten me.
It is hardest to be the first in the line. Today many of us may not understand it because we have not seen it or lived it. It doesn’t seem real because so many things are taken for granted. When we hear the name Master Chief Carl Brashear we know he was a bad ass not only because he was the first black man to become a diver but because he was one of the best divers. These Marines were Marines just like any other Marines they fought and they blead just like any other Marines. They are special because like Master Chief Brashear they were willing to be the first to stand up and say we will do it. Now things have changed so much that people my generation and younger don’t realize how big of a deal this was at the time…and still is to this day.
The town Jackass (me) is on a roll tonight… I better make with a dick and fart joke soon…
Lowering the bar for Blacks and Latinos
is the soft bigotry of low expectations.
I suspect that those black Marines were
not deserving of Congressional Medals Of
Honor, anymore than Blacks can claim that
black cavalrymen out west in the 1800’s
were called Buffalo Soldiers, and that
the Pharohs in Egypt were black Africans,
and that the pyramids in Egypt were built
by black Africans, also. The facts of the
matter are thar the Sioux and the Cheyenne
called [all] cavalrymen who wore buffalo robes
in the wintertime Buffalo Soldiers, and the
Pharohs were of Greek ancestery and the
pyramids’ architects and engineers were Greeks,
also, contrary to the propogandathat that is
being taught by professors at Howard University.
My point here is that elevating some people on
false pretenses to make others feel better
about themselves is not the way to get them
to strive to better themselves. They’re just
taking credit for the accomplishments of others,
and they’re continuing to get a free ride, and
they are living a lie, also, not that it bothers
the ones who have neither morals nor a conscience,
like the empty suit, street hustler and pretentious,
decadent dilletante who now occupies the White House,
and who hasn’t [earned] the right to be POTUS either.
If you dusagree with me, you are a Communist and an
hermaphrodite of questionable progeny. 🙂
And Brian gets the award for asshattery.
YES, they deserved the recognition they received, for serving their country in a time where blacks weren’t even regarded as second-class citizens. The military was far and away in front of becoming “color-blind”, and today I dare say we’re far further along to Dr. King’s ideal that our civilian counterparts. While I will say that many minorities today have not encountered discrimination, and a few whites have, the situation 60 years ago was a far, far different place than today.
So Brian, your assertion that I’m a communist and all else for having the termenity to disagree with you is, well, frankly, bullshit. Now pretty please, GDIAF.
Brian, you need to go find a clue. There’s a quite difference between a “Congressional Gold Medal” and the Medal of Honor. The former is a civilian award, given at the discretion of Congress. The latter is a military award for heroism. They are not the same thing at all.
And from your comments above, perhaps that’s not the only clue you need to go find.
Sheesh.
Yo … ENOUGH!
These Marines deserve recognition PERIOD. They were good Marines who were given shit to work with, GUMDAGGIT … they had to build there own friggin base in a swamp that was not suitable for vermin and bugs let alone a camp … and they built a good one to boot. Then they trained, fought, died, bled red blood same friggin color as mine. So … let’s stop playing the race card here and salute the TRAILBLAZERS of the Montford Point Marines. And BTW … I knew Master Diver Carl Brashear … the only colors I associated with him were: Khaki; Navy Blue and Gold; and Haze Gray. One other thing about the Master Diver. For a man that had a peg leg, he walked straighter, taller, and prouder than any Navy man I have ever encountered.
Oh forgot one thing: BRIAN … I am a victim of your victimistic views. It is deafening … STOP!
But Heck any Joe scmucatelly can Just Buy one and Claim He has it because he was a Secret Time Traveler Who went Back in Time To Invent ythe Atom Bomb for FDR….
@ #18 – LOL Gee, how did I know
that that would be your reaction?
@ #17 – Um yeah, that was effective.
Well reasoned, and rational, too. LOL
But hey, you are certainly entitled
to your opinion. Ain’t America grand?
@ #19 – Whoa, “victimistic views”, huh?
Hmmm, I’ll have to ponder that one. 🙂
Someone is just being an asshat early in th morning…joining the ranks of our village idiots.
BTW, #17 & #23, whenever you use the crude and assinine vernacular of a certain WFLA radio talk show host who is universally recognized to be a psycho, you run the risk of being considered to be a loony, too; i.e., someone who doesn’t have anymore credibility than he does.
Just a thought
I stand by what I said. Undoubtedly, many of these men displayed valor and heroism. Giving out hundreds of awards in a blanket fashion cheapens each of those awards, including those awarded in the past and in the future. It’s feel-good, empty kabuki theater.
By the way, there were black Marines before these men. And I believe that many of you misinterpreted what I said. I salute each and every one of them for their sacrifices and service. My aim was not and is not the diminshment of those sacrifces and service. But I also equate actions like this to Al Gore being awarded the Nobel Prize..it ultimately means nothing, because it was done for the wrong reason(s).
And #2, #3, and #4: Good to see that you can shoehorn a typical liberal strategy into the discussion and use ad hominems and play the “racist!” trump card. I was married to a Mexican girl for 10 years during and after my army time at Ft. Hood. We got married a scant month before I volunteered for and served in the first Gulf war with the 2d AD. I’ve seen discrimination just by being married to a Mexican girl, so I understand the point. I’ve also been discriminated against because I am white…many times. Everybody wants to feel special these days, even if all they have is the color of their skin. I reject that entitlement theory.
Nice try at spin, Brian. But it ain’t gonna fly. You blew it, and no amount of spin can cover up the fact that you were out to lunch – as evidenced by you confusing the Congressional Gold Medal and the Medal of Honor. You didn’t even realize you’d done that until I pointed that out.
Go back home to your Jim Crow dreamworld, old fool. Play Randy Newman’s “Rednecks” on your 8-track a few more times to make yourself feel better. Hell, I bet you even think Newman was being serious vice satirical in those lyrics!
I stand by what I said skh.pcola
Also, I don’t care that you were married to a Mexican girl for 10 years. It doesn’t mean that you don’t jack off to The Turner Diaries every once in awhile.
Huh. I had to go look up “Turner Diaries.” Never heard of that. From the way that you interact with people, you seem like an intolerant progressive. I’ve been reading and (infrequently) commenting on this website for years and would prefer to think that regulars here would repudiate your filthy ad hominems.