Sgt Grit Marine Forums

Hey everyone, although I'm new to the forums, I have a nice documentary I'd like to share with everyone. I'm sure all you fellow Devil Dogs are familiar with Montford Point, and the role the camp, and it's Marines played in WWII. While in my final year in the Corps, I put together this short film as a tribute to these Marines story. I think you will all enjoy it...hopefully! Check it out, it's called "Make Us Proud"

Well Done!  Congratulations on getting the story out.  I know production is over but if you re-do may Isuggest the Hymn or the Marine Bands "Marines Hymn Apothiosis" over the closing credits?

During the USMC Vietnam Tankers Association reunion in Las Vegas this past August I met a brand new member of our organization.  1st Sgt Barnet Parson, USMC (ret).  Barnet is a dark green Marine who was in Korea as well as Vietnam.  He also had the distinction of being a Monfort Point Marine.  I wish I had more time to chat with him because I know that he has some interesting tales to tell of a segrageted Marine Corps.

By the by, he earned a Silver Star for keeping a lot of 9th Marines alive during a major battle inside of the DMZ in Vietnam. 

 

Kevin, that film was simply outstanding. I loved the way you captured the old style speaking of that Marine. Also, the musical score in the background was great as well. I recognized that one set from Ken Burns' Civil War doumentary. I guess it is apropro for any war. Well done Marine. I am also a Philadelphian. I live in Bucks County now.

Great video Kevin,thanks for sharing that with us.

Those two Montford Point Marines who were awarded Bronze Stars on Iwo Jima, I have to wonder,considering the times,what would they have been awarded if they had been white? Silver Star? Navy Cross? Medal of Honor?

Wish I knew more about their actions.

   Semper Fidelis,
      Chris

Hey everyone, thanks for all the great feedback. This was a really amazing project for me for a ton of reasons. Not like it should matter, but I'm white, and when my old CO came to my department with this idea, I jumped all over it. I got to spend a few months doing research at the Marine Corps University and a few other places, trying to dig up old photos and stories. It was an amazing few months for me, and I learned so much and met so many people that I am still in touch with today. This was the first project that I was basically allowed to take complete control and do as I saw fit. Everyone involved was thrilled with it, although, we did have to produce a version in full color (I really pushed to have it in the B+W version as seen here, but the higher ups insisted we have a color version as well. I was just happy they let me produce one in b+w, I feel it adds a bit to it, that's the artist in me speaking though!) They have the color version playing at the Marine Corps Heritage Museum now, which is such a great feeling. Since I am no longer and actively enlisted Marine, it makes me proud to know that I still can contribute by bringing to light this chapter of our history. Thank you guys again for the kind words, and thanks for watching!

I finally watched it.  It is good but I have to say that the manner in which the narrator speaks makes my teeth grind.  I want him to speak faster and get on with it!!!

John Wear:

I finally watched it.  It is good but I have to say that the manner in which the narrator speaks makes my teeth grind.  I want him to speak faster and get on with it!!!

Ha Ha, this was a criticism I've heard a couple of other times. When we wrapped up shooting, i was grinding MY teeth. This gentleman was a real captain in our Corps, I can't remember his name now, it's in the credits though... Anyway, I tried every way I could to get him to deliver the lines differently, but the problem was, this was a routine he had performed at probably dozens of ceremonies, he just had learned to say it a certain way, like if you ask a kid to tell you his ABC's, they almost always sing it, because it's how they are used to reciting it.
He was a great guy, but when it came from taking acting directing...from a corporal none the less, he just wouldn't budge.
On a side note, when he saw the final product for the first time, he got teary eyed! I couldn't help but think "What kind of person gets choked up by their own acting?". When ever I see myself on camera I cringe and think about how I would have done things differently. Not this guy :)

Thanks for watching!

GTG Cpl Wright.  When think of myself on camera I too cringe.  I sound like that old Fed Ex commercial where that guy is on several the phones talking faster and faster!!!  I did a video for a donation appeal one time.  As I spoke the teleprompter person kept moving faster and faster as I spoke faster and faster.  By the end of the taping, you could barely understand what I was saying!!!

 To get back to that dark green Marine skipper...it sounded to me as if he was a little bit "tiched in the head" if you know what I mean.  Speaking in such a halting speach and simple English words.  As if he were back in the 40s at Montford Point with a bunch of simple Negroes who were fresh off of the farm.

John, read my post above. You don't get it. This is the way many African-Americans from the south spoke at the time. The good skipper knew exactly what he was doing. He probably had uncles and older cousins who spoke the same way. WTF did you want him to say? " Hey man, we was doin the whole bad Iwo thang and doz little mutha fuc**s was trying to fry our bad selves." The skipper had the lingo of the time down. It was very well done. I don't think the Marine Corps Heritage Museum would have had it, if it were not realistic.

I may or I may not "get it."  IMHO is sounds degrading.  I'd like him to speak "normal" American English.

The young director seems to agree with me.

 

Johnny, it ain't the first time you and I disagreed on something, and I know it sure as hell won't be the last.

That's one of the reasons I love you man...you stand up for what you believe.

And tonight I believe that I am having a few beers!!!

Kevin: I say this not as a racist, but the way we felt way back when we learned of African Americans being 

inducted into the Corps, it was not complimentary, of course they had to be tested first before our acceptance

into the Corps. It was my first hand knowledge of them was on Iwo Jima, where the African Americans were

a shore  party when the nips pulled their final Banzai attack and they were part of those that repelled the attack

and proved that they were truly MARINES, my next encounter was at the USO (or Red Cross) in Sasebo, when

I saw them with pegged dungaree trousers, THAT of course was something else, but over the years the African

Americans have proven their right to wear the Eagle, Anchor, and Globe.  Poppa Gene

Thanks for the comment Poppa Gene, it's interesting to hear some first hand experience of the Marine Corps integration.

It's very strange to me to even imagine that this type of segregation could have existed, but I do understand that it was a different time and people just thought differently. I don't believe that makes it right, but it makes it a little easier to understand.

I personally feel that, in this day and age, it's silly to disallow ANY American the opportunity to serve in the Corps. Whether they be black or white, christian or muslim, and even male or female, if they meet all the Corps high standards and earn their Eagle, Globe and Anchor, then they deserve to be a Marine. And in the world we live in today, we could use as many highly trained Marines as we can get! Thanks again for sharing your insights

Kevin : You are correct, remember in those days, attitudes towards the African Americans in general were not

as it is today and the Jim Crow attitude was widely spread throughout our nation,, however our Corps was also a tight nit

organization and changes were hard to come by, Where as it was difficult at first to accept African Americans, Women

Marines suffered even more before they were accepted, and the insults heaped upon them were even more, I believe G inny

and Joyce can concur to this, however time and thier performance proved that they TOO  were MARINES.  Yes times  and

attitudes have changed for the better, and the Corps has grown up for the better.  I had to p ut my  two cents in about

the WRs so that you knew it really wasnt entirely racism but that tradition also played a part of that era. Poppa Gene

Poppa Gene, I completely understand. I think we can all be proud that the Marine Corps was actually at the forefront of change and didn't wait around to be forced into it.

Kevin, there were no black Women Marines (WRs) during World War II.There were rumors of some of mixed heritage who   " passed," but officially the first black women Marines enlisted during the summer of 1949 and joined the 3rd Recruit Battalion on 10 September. Platoon 7 therefore is believed to be one of the first racially integrated Marine Corps units since, at the time, black male Marines were segregated and trained separately. I thought it was interesting the way they handled prejudice in the barracks. Bunk assignments  were determined by where each recruit came from; the northern girls  at one end of the squad bay and the southerners at the other. The blacks were "randomly" mixed in with the "Yankees." There were very few problems, except that the hairdressers in the  beauty shop didn't know how to do the black girls' hair, so the black girls fixed each others' hair after hours in Lt Hale's office.

This is living history in its greatest moments. Thank you Ginny and Poppa Gene.