First Negro Marines decorated by the famed Second Marine Division somewhere in the Pacific (left to right) Staff Sgt Timerlate Kirven and Cpl. Samuel J. Love, Sr.They received Purple Hearts for wounds received in the Battle of Saipan.

 Second Marine Division

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)