Two Marines with the 9th Marine Corps District, based out of Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, were on hand to honor four Montford Point Marines, May 27, at the Colp Area Veterans Celebration, Dedication and Remembrance Ceremony, in Colp, Illinois. Nearly 20,000 African-Americans joined the Marine Corps in 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a “presidential directive giving African Americans an opportunity to be recruited in the Marine Corps,” according to the Montford Point Marines Association website. They didn’t receive recruit training at San Diego or Parris Island, however, but Camp Montford Point, N.C., a segregated training site for African American Marine recruits. For the next seven years, the camp remained opened until it became desegregated. The four Marines are Sol Griffin, Jr.; James L. Kirby, Early Taylor, Jr. and Archibald Mosley. These Marines, among many other Montford Point Marines across the country, were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that can be given to a civilian by Congress, in 2012. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Bryan A. Peterson)