The New School Hosts Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony Honoring Montford Point Marines

On March 8, 2025, Tishman Auditorium at The New School fell quiet as families took their seats to witness something long overdue. The National Montford Point Marine Association held its Congressional Gold Medal Presentation, honoring six Black Marines from New York City who served their country during World War II at a time when their country refused to fully serve them back.

Beginning in 1942, nearly 20,000 African American men enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. They were not welcomed into the main ranks. Instead, the Corps sent them to Montford Point Camp, a segregated training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina, separated from the rest of Camp Lejeune by policy and by design. They trained anyway. They shipped out anyway. They fought at Iwo Jima, Saipan, Okinawa, and Guam, and they came home to a country that largely moved on without acknowledging what they had done.

Six of those men were honored at The New School this March. Private First Class Donald A. Dunston grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and served as a Military Police Officer before going on to be a civil rights activist and community fixture. Private First Class Brereton T. Holder, originally from Barbados, was assigned to the Second Marine Ammunition Company and earned the Navy Unit Commendation ribbon for combat operations in Guam. Corporal John E. Shelton enlisted at 18, served in the Asiatic Pacific, and later became a detective in Brooklyn. Corporal Theophilis A. Thomas, born in Manhattan, served as an Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun crewman and went on to earn a degree from Long Island University. Corporal Gordon A. White, born in Brooklyn to parents from Barbados, fought at Iwo Jima and the occupation of Kyushu, Japan, before spending decades working for the NYC Transit Department and the Department of Sanitation. Private Edward Williams, raised in Brooklyn, was known after the war as an electronics expert and served 30 years as a motorman for the Transit Authority. Most were honored posthumously. Their families received the recognition in their place.

Colonel Robert M. Jones, Commanding Officer of the 1st Marine Corps District, delivered the keynote address. His career spans combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, command tours across multiple Marine divisions, and two graduate degrees from the Naval War College. He is, in many ways, a direct continuation of what the Montford Point Marines made possible. The ceremony also featured remarks from New School President Joel Towers, Colonel Terrance Holliday of the NYC Department of Veterans Services, and National Vice President Craig Little of the NMPMA. Gunnery Sergeant Maydun Shahid delivered a first-person narrative, and Northern Region Vice President Kelly Atkinson presented the history of Montford Point. A letter from President Barack Obama was read aloud by Master Gunnery Sergeant Carr, who served as Master of Ceremony throughout.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian honor Congress can award. The Montford Point Marines collectively received it in 2012. The individual presentations happening now, more than a decade later, are still finding families. Still closing loops that have been open for eighty years. As General James F. Amos, 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote in the program: the diversity of today's Marine Corps was paved in large part by the selfless dedication of the Montford Point Marines. Few of those heroes remain today.

For the military-connected students and veterans at The New School, a ceremony like this is not just history. It is a reminder that the distance between service and recognition can be vast, and that it matters who closes it, and when. The New School's Center for Military-Affiliated Students co-hosted the event as part of its ongoing commitment to the veterans in its community and to the history that shaped the institution of service itself. The families who came to Tishman Auditorium that morning carried their loved ones into the room. That is not a small thing. Neither is the fact that The New School was where it happened.

By Kevin - USMC Veteran - Fine Arts Graduate