Stansbury Johnson, a Montford Point Marine veteran, said he didn’t think “just being somewhere and doing his job” warranted a gold medal.
But on Thursday, Dec. 21, the La Palma resident was proud and thoughtful when presented with a replica Congressional Gold Medal on his 97th birthday. Dressed in a purple shirt and dark slacks, he had heeded his daughter’s request to dress in “something more than just his usual dungarees.”
The medal is the nation’s highest civilian award and was given to him at his home by representatives of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Montford Point Marine Association, who have been delivering the replicas of the joint medal awarded in 2012 to the men who were stationed at the North Carolina camp.
Johnson settled in his comfy recliner and was surrounded by about 20 people who filled his home for the presentation and laughed wholeheartedly when Benny Harris, president of the association’s Los Angeles Chapter, started the presentation by saying that Thursday was Johnson’s 73rd birthday. When Harris was interrupted by calls from the audience correcting Johnson’s age, a quick-witted Johnson piped up and said, “You can say that!” drawing even more laughter.
“This is something I’m not accustomed to, but I want to thank everyone who is here,” Johnson said, after receiving the box with his medal. “I’m seldom overwhelmed, but this is one of those times where I’m overwhelmed. I’m surprised and amazed at how wonderful I feel about everything.”
Johnson, a private first-class with a headquarters platoon, was stationed at Montford Point in 1945 where he did paperwork.
“I wasn’t particularly happy about doing paperwork, but in the Marines, you do what you have to,” he said. “I knew how to type, spell and speak.”
Montford Point was a segregated camp for black Marines within Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. In all, there were 20,000 Marines who served there from 1942 until 1949. The men were the first Black Marines in the service branch and were housed in spare huts and only allowed on the main base of Camp Lejeune if a White Marine escorted them. Many served in support or guard units. In places such as Iwo Jima, the Montford Marines also evacuated wounded dead under heavy fire.
In July 1949, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 negating segregation, and in September 1949, Montford Point was deactivated, ending seven years of segregation. The camp was renamed Camp Johnson after Sgt. Maj. Gilbert “Hashmark” Johnson, one of the first African Americans to join the Marine Corps.
Unlike other Black units, such as the Buffalo Soldiers or the Tuskegee pilots who flew during World War II, there had been little recognition of the Montford Point Marines.
But in 2012, President Barack Obama recognized the Marines’ contribution in helping shape U.S. military history by signing a bill into law that presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the Montford Point Marines. The “collective” medal is at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
After a Washington, D.C. ceremony at which about 400 veterans received medals, others followed, including one at Camp Pendleton later that year, where the 1st Marine Division celebrated nine Montford Pointers from around Southern California. That ceremony was led by Maj. Gen. Ronald Bailey — whose command of the division from 2011 to 2013 — represented a milestone in Marine Corps history when he became the division’s first Black commanding general.
Since the initial presentation, Montford Point Marine Association representatives have combed the nation, looking for more veterans like Johnson. Of the 20,000 Marines, about 2,500 have been presented with the award replicas.
Mallorie Berger, an auxiliary member of the association and granddaughter of a Montford Point Marine, has been raising awareness. She found out her grandfather was stationed at the camp while researching genealogy.
“No one in my family knew the name Montford Point,” she said. “My mom only talked about how it was difficult when he went and served. When I learned about Montford Point and what he went through, it was mind-blowing. Now, I’m working to find families. As I go through my journey, we all have the same thread: They didn’t talk about it. I feel like I’ve got 20,000 grandpas to honor.”
In the last year and a half, Berger has found 200 veterans, but only three – including Johnson – are still alive.
She was especially moved by Johnson’s service and that of many in his family.
Johnson was one of six children and all were in the military; one brother, Sgt. Purcell Johnson, was also at Montford Point, but has died. Berger located Johnson thanks to a friend who knew his older sister, Romay Johnson Davis. Davis, now 104 and living in Alabama, is the oldest living veteran of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a unit of all-Black women who mostly served in Europe during the war.
Davis – who herself has a Congressional Gold Medal for her service – will be presented with her brother Purcell’s medal in January.
What struck Berger most about Johnson, she said, was how humble he was and that he was one of three siblings from a single family that each earned a Congressional Gold Medal.
Johnson was raised in Virginia and then lived with family in New Jersey and later in Washington, D.C., where he attended high school. After serving at Montford Point, he went to Howard University and earned a business degree. He worked in banking, in jewelry and had a dry cleaning business before coming to California with his wife when he was in his early 50s. He had three children; one daughter has died.
Once in California, he worked for payroll and office machinery companies.
He attributes his longevity to “never abusing life” and working hard to get his children through school and to afford to be a family man, he said.
“I’m not well off, but I get by,” he said, adding he has a new appreciation for the difficulty of household chores since he became widowed. He cooks for himself – his favorite dishes are seafood and especially anything with shrimp. He also grows fruits and vegetables in a garden he tends to every day.
When Johnson first heard from Berger, he said he wasn’t excited because he was just “in the place he had to be and doing his job.” He hadn’t thought much about Montford Point.
But once Berger connected him to other veterans and family members of some Montford Pointers who’ve died, he became more open to receiving the medal.
“It became a better feeling because I heard from other Marines who were happy about it and thought it was well-deserved,” he said. “Now, I have a sense of pride to know I was part of something where others are happy and I think it’s good.”
But, receiving the medal was also bittersweet because it is a reminder of the segregation he and other Black Marines endured.
“I feel wronged looking back, and it makes me angry,” he said. “Then, I was not. I just did my job, but when I look at it now, it was a deep injustice.”
