Negro Marines, attached to the Third Ammunition Company, take time out from supplying ammunition to the front line on Saipan. Riding captured bicycle is Pfc. Horace Boykin; and left to right, Cpl. Willis T. Anthony, Pfc. Emmitt Shackelford, and Pfc. Eugene Purdy. June 1944. (rudeerude)

Saipan

Peleliu Island.African-American Marines on the beach during the battle. September 15, 1944.(rudeerude) 

African-American Marines Peleliu

Breaking a tradition of 167 years, the U.S. Marine Corps started enlisting African-American's on June 1, 1942. The first class of 1,200 African-American volunteers began their training 3 months later as members of the 51st Composite Defense Battalion at Montford Point, a section of the 200-square-mile Marine Base, Camp Lejeune, at New River, NC. The first Negro to enlist was Howard P. Perry shown here.(rudeerude)