Park Forest, IL–(ENEWSPF)– A stately Ed Fizer, Park Forest resident, one of the first African-American Marines (ret.), and member of the Montford Point Marine Association, shares his perspective on what it was like to break the color barrier in the United States Marines.
“In 1942,” Fizer says, “right after the Pearl Harbor incident, the President of the United States, Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt, decided, through advice from Congress and others, to sign an executive order to allow African Americans to serve in the Marine Corps. At this time, the services were all segregated, and it meant they had to provide provisions to train us in a special place. They found it in North Carolina in Camp Lejeuene.”
The Montford Point Marine Association was formed in 1965, Fizer notes.
“Whenever you’re doing anything, try and do it well, because you never know when you’re making history,” Fizer told Park Forest residents during the village’s annual on Veteran’s Day celebration, November 10, 2010.
