Daily Delight

On Wednesday, the original Montford Point Marines and their surviving family members flew to Washington D.C. to receive medals from Congress.

They may not be as well-known as the Tuskegee Airmen, but the Montford Point Marines were the first blacks to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, back in World War Two.

Montford Point is the name of the segregated camp in North Carolina where they trained. After that, they were sent to the Pacific and fought in three of the bloodiest battles of the war: Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Okinawa.

Their performance in the battles was one of the factors that led to President Truman’s decision to desegregate the Armed Forces in 1948.

After nearly 70 years, Congress finally awarded them with the nation’s highest civilian honor . . . the Congressional Gold Medal.

(L.A. Times)