One of the First Black Marines to Be Honored Today

Calvin Williams doesn’t want everyone to make such a big fuss over him.

Yes, the 87-year old Leisure World resident was recently awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, and, yes, he was a one of the first black members of the United States Marine Corps.

But he still thinks the ceremony in his honor at Los Alamitos Medical Center Friday morning – a hospital he’s been volunteering at for three years – is a bit much.

“It’s not been that interesting a life,” Williams said “It’s been very humdrum and very dour at times.”

But history begs to differ.

In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order allowing African Americans to join the Marine Corps.

However, the Marine Corps remained segregated.

Williams was one of 20,000 Marines to train at Montford Point, a blacks-only Marine base in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

In July 1948, President Harry Truman issued another executive order which led to the end of segregation in the armed forces, and by September 1949, Montford Point was shuttered, having operated for eight years.  

And though the Marine corps had planned to demobilize the African American troops after the war, it didn’t happen. 

Black Marines such as Williams were here to stay.

Williams and more than 400 fellow members of the Montford Point Marines, a veteran service organization named after the camp and made up of soldiers who trained there, were honored by national officials at two ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

The inscription on the award, the Congressional Gold Medal, reads, “For outstanding perseverance and courage that inspired social change in the Marine Corps.”

Along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the gold medal is the highest civilian award in the United States.

At the first ceremony on Capitol Hill, the attending officials included House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).

After that ceremony, the Marines received bronze replicas of the medals at a second ceremony at the Marine Barracks – the oldest active post in the Marine Corps.

'Never thought I’d see the day.'

Born in Kansa City, Missouri, Williams and his family moved out to Los Angeles in 1940 when he was 15.

His family was in “abject poverty,” Williams says, and he had to get a job quickly.

At 17, he started working on an aircraft assembly line, making dive bombers for Douglas Aircraft.

When he turned 18, he was drafted into the Marine Corps. Williams said he intended to join the Army, but the recruiting officers at the Los Angeles building he reported to said, “the Marines need one more colored guy.”

He said he later learned that the local Marines had a quota and had to draft two African-Americans daily.

According to Williams, the Marines were resistant to integration.

“Oh, yes, they didn’t like it all,” Williams said.

After his time in boot camp at Montford Point, Williams shipped off to the Marshall Islands where he worked as a radar operator for the 52nd Defense Battalion.

He served for two and a half years. He didn’t see combat, but he was told to prepare for the invasion of Japan.

But to William’s relief, the war came to an end.

Williams returned to California and worked at the aircraft factory until he got a job at the post office, where he worked for 33 years.

He met his ex-wife through a mutual friend and they raised three children together.

Now he lives in Leisure World. He’s been retired for about 30 years and does volunteer work for the Los Al Medical Center, helping answer questions at the front desk and helping people find their way around.

As for the upcoming award ceremony, he says all the attention makes him uncomfortable and that the honors should go to all the members of Montford Point Marines.

Despite his desire to avoid the limelight, Williams says he was moved by the ceremonies in Washington DC.

Especially when he saw, among the soldiers honoring the Montford Point Marines, a “couple of black generals.”

“I never thought I’d see the day,” Williams said.  

Local dignitaries are expected to attend the hospital event Friday 8:30 a.m. at Los Alamitos Medical center.

Members of the Marine Corps and other local dignitaries will meet in the Feiwell Courtyard directly in front of the hospitals main entrance.