Montford Point Marine Memorial, Jacksonville

The memorial space to honor the first African Americans allowed to serve in the United States Marines Corps features three concentric rings and a “Wall of Stars” representing the 20,000 who trained at the segregated Montford Point recruit camp during the 1940’s. The three rings represent the Montford Point Marines, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Changing Society of the 1940s. The rings, according to the architect O. Liam Wright, represent the roles of "all parties involved" in bringing about integration of the United States military. Inside the east circle representing the Montford Point Marines is a bronze statue of a marine picking up and holding an M1 rifle as he puts down a can of ammunition. This is symbolic of the transition of African American soldiers from support and supply roles into combat units. The statue by sculptor Robert Talbot weighs 900 pounds and is 9 feet tall on a sloped marble base for a total height of 15 feet. Incised into the base’s north face is a diagram of the Pacific Theater in World War II and a list of campaigns in which the Montford Point Marines served. The south side of the base holds three inscriptions titled THEY ARRIVE, THEY SERVED and THEY LIVED.