Montford Point Marine Phillip Johnson Sr. Congressional Gold Medal
Marines, family and friends gather
for a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony posthumously
honoring Montford Point Marine Sgt. (ret.) Phillip A.
Johnson Sr. on July 27, 2019 at St. Paul's United Methodist
Church in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Montford Point Marines were the
first African American Marines who joined the U.S. Marine
Corps between 1942 and 1949, a time when the Corps was
segregated. In 2011, President Barack Obama signed public
law 112-59 to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the
Montford Point Marines for outstanding perseverance and
courage that inspired social change in the U.S. Marine
Corps.
