I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3927 
To grant the congressional gold medal to the Montford Point Marines. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 26, 2009 
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida (for herself, Mr. FILNER, Mr. BUYER, Mr. 
RANGEL, Mr. JONES, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 
Texas, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. MEEK of Florida, 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. SNYDER, and 
Mr. MICHAUD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on 
House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To grant the congressional gold medal to the Montford Point 
Marines. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) On June 25, 1941, President Franklin D. 
Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 8802 estab-
lishing the Fair Employment Practices Commission 
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and opening the doors for the very first African- 
Americans to enlist in the United States Marine 
Corps. 
(2) The first Black Marine recruits were 
trained at Camp Montford Point, near the New 
River in Jacksonville, North Carolina. 
(3) On August 26, 1942, Howard P. Perry of 
Charlotte, North Carolina, was the first Black pri-
vate to set foot on Montford Point. 
(4) During April 1943 the first African-Amer-
ican Marine Drill Instructors took over as the senior 
Drill Instructors of the eight platoons then in train-
ing; the 16th Platoon (Edgar R. Huff), 17th (Thom-
as Brokaw), 18th (Charles E. Allen), 19th (Gilbert 
H. Johnson), 20th (Arnold R. Bostic), 21st 
(Mortimer A. Cox), 22nd (Edgar R. Davis, Jr.), and 
23rd (George A. Jackson). 
(5) Black Marines of the 8th Ammunition Com-
pany and the 36th Depot Company landed on the is-
land of Iwo Jima on D-day, February 19, 1945. 
(6) The largest number of Black Marines to 
serve in combat during World War II took part in 
the seizure of Okinawa in the Ryuku Islands with 
some 2,000 Black Marines seeing action during the 
campaign. 
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(7) On November 10, 1945, the first African- 
American Marine, Frederick C. Branch, was com-
missioned as a second lieutenant at the Marine 
Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. 
(8) Overall 19,168 Blacks served in the Marine 
Corps in World War II. 
(9) An enterprising group of men, including 
original Montford Pointer Master Sergeant Brooks 
E. Gray, planned a reunion of the Men of Montford 
Point, and on September 15, 1965, approximately 
400 Montford Point Marines gathered at the 
Adelphi Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to lay 
the foundation for the Montford Point Marine Asso-
ciation Inc., 16 years after the closure of Montford 
Point as a training facility for Black recruits. 
(10) Organized as a non-military, nonprofit en-
tity, the Montford Point Marine Association’s main 
mission is to preserve the legacy of the first Black 
Marines. 
(11) Today the Montford Point Marine Associa-
tion has 36 chapters throughout the United States. 
(12) Many of these first Black Marines stayed 
in the Marine Corps like Sergeant Major Edgar R. 
Huff. 
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