?Clero Florence, John Phoenix, and Francis Packingham, three local men who served in the Marine Corps, were honored this week in Washington, DC and given the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.
This is the highest civilian award that can be given to a citizen, and was given to the three for serving as Montford Point Marines.
Florence, Packingham, and Phoenix are three of some 400 surviving Marines who trained at Montford Point and were honored on Wednesday. The Montford Point Marines were the first black Marines to ever serve in the Marine Corps, and weren?t allowed to do so until an executive order by Franklin D. Roosevelt required the Marines to accept black servicemen.
Montford Point was just outside Camp Lejeune, and was a segregated Marine camp that Phoenix described in a previous Times-News story as a ?mosquito infested patch of sand.?
Senator Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) was the lead sponsor of the bill that awarded the Montford Point Marines the Congressional Gold Medal.
?I felt we had to honor these men,? said Hagan. ?Commandant James Amos came to me and asked that we get this bill through Congress.? So, Hagan said she got the required 67 sponsors and pushed the bill through.
Hagan comes from a military family herself. Her grandfather was an Army General, and coming from a military family, she felt that, ?the timing was right,? for the bill to be passed.
Florence, Packingham, and Phoenix were unavailable for comment, but were thought to be in attendance by Hagan?s office.
?Eddie W.H. Morgan, another Montford Point Marine who lived in Burlington, passed away in April at the age of 86.
?
Source: http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/point-56763-washington-honored.html
oklahoma city bombing robbie robertson the curious case of benjamin button secret service prostitute rich ross april 20 jennifer love hewitt
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.