The search for Charlotte’s Montford Marines and a 78-year wait for honor
Before James Connor died, his son wanted him to feel the honor he deserved — an honor 70 years in the making.
Born and raised in Rowan County just north of Charlotte, Connor had enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 19 in 1944. He’d eventually be sent to war in the South Pacific. But the first stop for him — and thousands of other Marines in that era who were integrating the service branch — was Montford Point.
Near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, this is where the first Black Americans to serve in the Marine Corps were trained — separate, segregated from white Marines.
“Despite the racism, he was proud to serve in the Marines,” his son Bobby Connor, now 72, says.
“He was one of seven kids in his family. He was the youngest. He was the only son ... He wanted to serve his country.”
At the time, though, his country offered hostility mostly.
Seven decades would pass between the arrival of the first Black private at Montford Point — Howard P. Perry of Charlotte — and Marines like Connor receiving one of America’s highest honors.
The signature of America’s first Black president on a law intended to honor the country’s first Black Marines came just a little too late. Bobby Connor had tried for months to obtain for his dad a Congressional Gold Medal after Congress and former President Barack Obama collectively bestowed the award to all Montford Point Marines.
Most, like James Connor, would never feel the weight of the medal on their chest.
But on Sunday in Charlotte, the families of five Montford Point Marines will come together to see a dedicated group of Marines — on behalf of a grateful nation — honor the men posthumously.
“I’m relieved and honored this is happening,” Bobby Connor said. “My dad would be happy to have his medal. He would have been highly-elated. He loved God. He loved his family. He loved his country. He was proud to be a Marine.”
The work to find Montford Point Marines, or their families, has been ongoing in Charlotte since the Congressional Gold Medal recognition law was signed in 2011.
This month’s award ceremony will honor the last of 15 men believed to be Montford Point Marines from Charlotte or the surrounding area.
But ask Joe Major and he’ll tell you: the search is never over.
Montford Point Marine history
Sometimes, finding heroes takes a little bit of flair.
Every time Major puts on his weathered brown leather jacket with a United States Marine Corps emblem sewn to the pocket, he thinks of somebody’s family.
If that patch can spark a conversation when he’s out and about, the 69-year-old former master gunnery sergeant says, maybe it can lead to someone.
Major joined the Marine Corps right out of high school, served for a little more than 26 years and fought in Vietnam. Now he’s part of a decade-long undertaking: finding the thousands of Black men who were the first to enlist in the Marine Corps.
“They broke the color barrier,” Major said. “We’re standing on the shoulders of those men.”
“We may never find all 20,000. But maybe we can find 10,000 or even 15,000. We need to recognize their legacy, make sure they’re not left behind. They need to be remembered as part of Marine Corps history.”
President Franklin Roosevelt paved the way for Black men to enlist in the Marine Corps in June 1941 when an executive order established the Fair Employment Practices Commission. The recruits, facing racism, trained at a segregated Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, N.C. from Aug. 26, 1942 until the camp was decommissioned on Sept. 9. 1949, according to the National Montford Point Marine Association.
“Those Marines paved the way for us,” Major said. “We can’t let them fall by the wayside.”
The Montford Point Marine Association Charlotte Chapter #40 provides veteran services for all who served in the United States Armed Forces.
But men like Major and Craig Little, the Charlotte chapter president who served for 12 years in the Marine Corps, are following a special calling, too: To work with families to identify any original Montford Point Marine to ensure they are presented with the Congressional Gold Medal.
Fewer than 300 Montford Point veterans are believed to be alive.
The National Montford Point Marine Association said no complete roster of Montford Point Marines has ever been located.
“So you can imagine how tough it is to find one,” Little said.
An honor delayed
Bobby Connor remembers hearing about Montford Point Marines being given Congressional Gold Medals shortly after Obama signed the bill into law in 2011.
He wrote to the U.S. Department of the Navy to try and get the medal for his father. Several months passed before Connor heard anything — then they sent him the wrong medals.
His father died four months after the official decision to recognize Montford Point Marines.
Years went by, and then by chance he met Little.
“I pulled him to the side, told him my dad was a Marine and that I had been trying to get him his medal but there were problems,” Connor said. “(Little) said, ‘I can help you with that.’ He put everything in motion. It was a matter of two weeks and he told us we’re getting the medal.”
Bobby Connor will accept on his late father’s behalf an award earned 78 years ago when James Connor became a Marine.
His father, like many veterans, never really talked much about his time in the Marine Corps. It’s one of the reasons finding a Montford Point Marine is tough.
“Military folks… we raised our hands at some point to serve our community. But many don’t like to talk about it,” says Glenn Proctor, 75, with the Montford Point Marine Association Charlotte Chapter #40. He served six years, including a stint in Vietnam, with the Marine Corps.
“It didn’t matter what you were, you knew training in the Marine Corps was going to be tough. It was going to kick your ass, period,” Proctor said.
“The Marine Corps was the last branch to accept blacks. The racial tension was terrible.”
Little, Proctor and Major said because there is no formal list of Montford Point Marines, they rely on word of mouth, the media and events to encourage families to come forward. For example, the city of Charlotte in October unveiled new Montford Point Street signs — helping build awareness not just of history but also the ongoing search to honor Marines.
Little said he requests two things from families who believe they have a member who was a Montford Point Marine: service records and photo identification. They will confer with the National Archives and submit paperwork to Headquarters Marine Corps.
Medals will be awarded Sunday, from 5 to 8 p.m., at the Omega House of Charlotte to families of James Connor, Robert Givens, Raymond Smith, Raymond Davis and Darling Quashie.
For Major, the work to search for and honor Montford Point Marines has been highly personal.
‘Generations to come’
Major’s father was an original Montford Point Marine, serving from September 1943 until March 1946. He was called back into the Marine Corps and served again from January 1948 until November 1950. Major knew his father had served in the Marine Corps when he first signed up, but knew little about the Montford Point Marines.
“I didn’t really know much about that part until after I had retired from the Marine Corps and became a member of the Montford Point Marines Association,” said Major, whose father died in 2012 at the age of 87. “It was not a subject that was taught as part of Marine Corps history.”
Major, who lives in Waxhaw and is originally from South Carolina, joined the Marine Corps mainly because of his father.
“I wanted to finish what he started,” he said. “My father was happy that I followed in his footsteps and continued the journey. Having walked some of the same grounds that he did while serving, I often wonder what it must have been like when he served.
“My family and I are thrilled that our father’s contribution and legacy will forever be ingrained into the United States Marine Corps history as well as our family history. His contribution will forever be passed down to generations to come.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 11:57 AM.
