Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:12 | Joseph Williams was one of the first black Marines, serving in an anti-aircraft unit defending the Marshall Islands. The guns were advanced for the time, with a computer-like fire director that translated weather data into fire control.
Keywords : Joseph Williams Marshall Islands anti-aircraft (AA) fire director computer
When Joseph Williams heard that the Marine Corps would begin accepting black recruits, he immediately joined up. It was 1942, so the training at Camp Lejeune was segregated, with the black Marines in their own camp at Montford Point.
He was in the Marshall Islands to man an anti-aircraft battery. Joseph Williams recalls how the guns would respond before attacking planes got close, thanks to the radar unit. He also remembers the furious typhoons that would keep him hunkered down in bunkers.
As one of the original black Marines from Montford Point, Joseph Williams received the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in Washington, DC.
