Black marine in WW 2 honored 70 years later - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Black marine in WW 2 honored 70 years later

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A northeast Ohio man who was one of the first blacks to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps has been honored by his country nearly 70 years after his service ended.
    
Family and friends of Lenel Moore, 87, of Ashtabula, cheered, applauded and wept Saturday as Moore received the Congressional Gold Medal at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in his hometown of Ashtabula, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.
    
Moore received the medal from the members of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, headquartered in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park.
    
"If I had to do it over again, I would," said Moore, wiping away his own tears after receiving the medal from the members of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines from suburban Cleveland. "I appreciate this honor that I thought I'd never see."
    
Congress authorized the gold medals for the first black Marines, known as the Montford Point Marines. They joined the Marine Corps after President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order in 1942 to open up enlistment regardless of race.

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