Macon Marine Given Congressional Gold Medal for Service During World War II

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A hometown hero was honored today at city hall with a Congressional Gold Medal, more than half a century after he was one of the first African American Marines to fight in World War II.

85-year-old Frank Johnson was one of about 20,000 African American Marines who received their basic training in a segregated facility called Montford Point, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, between 1942 and 1949.

“He said sometimes they worked so hard and went through so much in getting prepared to be a Marine, that he would wish he was back plowing the mule because he was from the farm,” says Dorothy Johnson, Frank’s wife.

On June 27th of this year, the Montford Point Marines were awarded the highest civilian honor–the Congressional Gold Medal–at a ceremony in Washington, D.C, for their part in president Harry S Truman’s 1948 decision to integrate the military.

“We certainly had been invited to come,” says Dorothy Johnson.  “Then later, we were notified that they wanted to present it to him in person.”

With his friends and loved ones all around him, Johnson finally got his medal Monday afternoon.

“This medal is a beautiful medal,” says Frank Johnson, while admiring his new piece of gold.

Even after all these years, Johnson hasn’t forgotten where he came from.  He told me, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

“He never forgot the salute for the Marines, and from time to time, he would practice it,” says Dorothy Johnson, as her husband begins to salute.  “He does that when he hears it, so it’s wonderful,” she says, smiling.

Johnson was also one of the young men who walked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

His wife, Dorothy, says he’s always done what he thought was right, and at today’s medal presentation, she could tell he was truly happy.