Now, one of the corps’ three senior leaders says things have changed. “If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes,” the Marine commandant once said, “I would rather have the whites.” It had taken Roosevelt’s executive order to force the commandant of the Marine Corps at the time, Thomas Holcomb, to open the service to Black men. They trained at Montford Point in North Carolina, which was separate from Camp Lejeune, where white recruits trained. General Langley’s promotion is particularly poignant given that his great-uncle was one of the Montford Point Marines, who were the first Black recruits to join the Marine Corps after it began admitting African Americans in 1942. He served overseas in Afghanistan, Somalia and Okinawa, and he has also had several senior staff jobs at the Pentagon and at the military’s Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East. General Langley, who oversaw Marine forces on the East Coast in his last posting, has commanded at every level, from platoon to regiment, during his 37-year career. The rest have received one or two stars, a majority in areas from which the Marine Corps does not choose its senior leadership, like logistics, aviation and transport. Seven African Americans reached lieutenant general, or three stars. Not one had made it to the top four-star rank, an honor the Marines have bestowed on 73 white men. Since the corps began admitting African American troops in 1942, the last military service to do so, fewer than 30 have obtained the rank of general in any form. “I don’t know if I’m going to stick around that long,” he said, “but just the fact that junior Marines can see this, they will see that no matter what background you come from, you can achieve in the Marine Corps as long as you perform.”įor the Marine Corps, the promotion of General Langley is a step that has been a long time coming. Ibrahim Diallo, 31, who came up from Quantico with Captain Saintilfort, said in an interview that “all these friends started messaging me, saying, ‘You’re going to be next.’” “It didn’t click on me at first because everyone was asking questions about amphibious stuff and tactics, and he asked me about Saturday,” General Berger said at the ceremony, to laughter.Ĭapt. Both men topped out at lieutenant general. Bailey, the first Black man to command the First Marine Division. Petersen Jr., the first Black man to become a Marine Corps general, and Ronald L. Roosevelt’s order that desegregated the Marine Corps during World War II, General Langley listed a slew of Black Marines who went before him. Before Saturday, the Marine Corps had never given four stars to anyone who was not a white man. In an emotional ceremony at the Marine Barracks in Washington, General Langley, whose next assignment will be to lead United States Africa Command, acknowledged the weight of his promotion. With that star, he becomes one of only three four-star generals serving in the Marine Corps - the service’s senior leadership. Langley, 60, became the first Black Marine to receive a fourth star on his shoulder - a landmark achievement in the corps’ 246-year history. WASHINGTON - In the military, there have already been countless promotion ceremonies this year, held on Army bases, aircraft carriers and even, in one case, an escarpment overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy.īut on Saturday there was one for the history books.
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