![\"Retired](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783975749_489_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nRetired Major General Joe Shrader is the museum\u2019s president and CEO. He said building the museum was a long journey started in 1999, and now that it\u2019s open, there\u2019s a lot of excitement.<\/p>\n
First and foremost, Shrader said the museum is meant to remind people that freedom has a cost. He said, \u201cWe\u2019re not building a gigantic 25,000 square foot recruiting poster. We are trying to leave people with an understanding of what it means not only to be a Marine and the whole Semper Fidelis piece of that, but what sacrifices are required for the freedoms that we enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said the museum especially highlights the unique role of North and South Carolina Marines in World War II. When World War II started, the commandant of the Marine Corps needed a new place to train recruits and improve amphibious operations. The Corps settled on Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
In 1942, Montford Point was established as a satellite camp of Lejeune. At its start, it was a segregated facility that trained African American Marines.<\/p>\n
It’s where 98-year-old retired Gunnery Sergeant F.M. “Buddy” Hooper went after enlisting. He says World War II pushed the commandant to allow African Americans to join, saying Black Marines would be sent home after the war.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Benjamin Schachtman <\/p>\n
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WHQR<\/p>\n
Retired Gunnery Sergeant F.M. Hooper, a 98-year-old Montfort Point Marine and Congressional Gold Medal recipient, at WHQR studios.<\/p>\n
However, Hooper says the Montford Marines changed the commandant\u2019s mind. He said, \u201cWhite Marines were dug on the beaches and the Japanese had them really pinned down. But then all of the sudden a regiment of Montford Marines landed, and one of the white Marines looked up and said, \u2018Oh my God, they\u2019re Negroes! See, they\u2019re Marines. They\u2019re Montford Point Marines. The Black Angels have come to save us. Thank you, Lord.\u2019 And the commandant said, \u2018Black Marines are not going to go.\u2019 We\u2019re here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
To hear more stories like Hooper\u2019s, people can visit the Carolina Museum of the Marine at 109 Montford Landing Road. It’s open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 to 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retired Major General Joe Shrader is the museum\u2019s president and CEO. He said building the museum was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-338875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}