Stansbury Johnson, a Montford Point Marine veteran, said he didn’t think “just being somewhere and doing his job” warranted a gold medal.
But on Thursday, Dec. 21, the La Palma resident was proud and thoughtful when presented with a replica Congressional Gold Medal on his 97th birthday. Dressed in a purple shirt and dark slacks, he had heeded his daughter’s request to dress in “something more than just his usual dungarees.”
The medal is the nation’s highest civilian award and was given to him at his home by representatives of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Montford Point Marine Association, who have been delivering the replicas of the joint medal awarded in 2012 to the men who were stationed at the North Carolina camp.
Johnson settled in his comfy recliner and was surrounded by about 20 people who filled his home for the presentation and laughed wholeheartedly when Benny Harris, president of the association’s Los Angeles Chapter, started the presentation by saying that Thursday was Johnson’s 73rd birthday. When Harris was interrupted by calls from the audience correcting Johnson’s age, a quick-witted Johnson piped up and said, “You can say that!” drawing even more laughter.
“This is something I’m not accustomed to, but I want to thank everyone who is here,” Johnson said, after receiving the box with his medal. “I’m seldom overwhelmed, but this is one of those times where I’m overwhelmed. I’m surprised and amazed at how wonderful I feel about everything.”
Johnson, a private first-class with a headquarters platoon, was stationed at Montford Point in 1945 where he did paperwork.
“I wasn’t particularly happy about doing paperwork, but in the Marines, you do what you have to,” he said. “I knew how to type, spell and speak.”
Montford Point was a segregated camp for black Marines within Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. In all, there were 20,000 Marines who served there from 1942 until 1949. The men were the first…
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