Ceremony marks start of construction for Montford Point memorial

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC (AP) — A ceremony is scheduled to mark the start of construction of a monument at Camp Lejeune to honor the Montford Point Marines, the first black Marines to enlist in the Corps.

The $1.8 million memorial will be located outside Camp Johnson, the segregated camp where 20,000 black Marine recruits trained from 1942 to 1949. It previously was called Camp Montford Point.

The ceremony will be held Friday at Lejeune Memorial Gardens.

The memorial project director says more than $640,000 has been raised to complete the first part of the memorial, which organizers hope will be finished by Aug. 26, which is National Montford Point Marines Day. Another $914,000 is needed to complete the second part. The memorial is scheduled for completion by August 2016 if all the money is raised.

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