Butler Martin, 101, was one of the first Black Marines in the country

Butler Martin may have made a name for himself as a barrier-breaking World War II Marine who trained under harsh conditions in the segregated South, but his granddaughter fondly remembers his softer side.

“When I was young, he would brush my hair and always give me hair care tips,” said Christine Russell Morgan, one of Martin’s 16 grandchildren.

Martin died on September 27 at the age of 101.

His life was extremely long, but it was equally remarkable for what he accomplished as a young man in the service of a country where many people treated him as an inferior person.

According to the National World War II Museum, only about 66,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II are still alive. They include several hundred veterans who, like Martin, trained at Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, North Carolina, the first Marine Corps training base for black recruits.

Russell Sayles, administrative officer of Great Lakes National Cemetery, where Martin was buried Oct. 15, said there were about 300 Marines from Montford Point surviving as of the end of 2023. He wasn’t sure how many people were still alive at the time of Martin’s death, but he knows it’s not many.

“There are very few of them left, especially after 2024, which was not a good year,” he said.

According to the National Montford Point Marine Association, Martin served from 1942 to 1946, making him one of the first to train at Camp Montford Point, which operated from August 26, 1942, until it was decommissioned on September 9, 1949. The site is still used as Camp Gilbert H. Johnson, a satellite camp of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

Before Camp Montford Point opened, African Americans had been banned from serving in the Marines since its founding in 1775.

Sayles said conditions there were as difficult as any Marine Corps training ground, although it was doubly difficult because of the racism that existed in the segregated South.

“It was pretty significant when (Camp Montford Point) was first established,” he said. “(Black recruits) would have to be escorted off the base by a White Marine” for fear of being accosted by racists.

Sayles said the commitment of these first Black Marines, along with the support of Marine Corps leadership, helped lead the push for integration, first in the military and then across the country.

“People talk a lot about the Tuskegee Airmen,” a group of mostly black World War II pilots famous for their achievements, Sayles said. “For me, the Marines at Montford Point had the same effect.”

After training, Martin was sent to the naval base at Pearl Harbor; Guadalcanal in the South Pacific; Saipan; Iwo Jima; and Guam, according to information posted online by the Friends of the National II War World Memorial. His duties included delivering ammunition.

In 2011, President Barack Obama signed legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Martin and all other Marines from Montford Point.

Martin was also honored on May 24 by the City of Southfield during its annual Memorial Day ceremony at the City Council Chambers. He was awarded the badge “For dedicated service to the homeland” and remained so featured in a news article about that day in The Detroit News.

The Friends of the National World War II Memorial said Martin was born in South Carolina and raised in Hamtramck. After serving in the Marine Corps, Martin worked as a bus driver in Detroit for ten years, then went to cosmetology school and opened his own shop, which he operated for almost 40 years. In 1990 he retired.

In addition to his knowledge of hair care, Christine Russell Morgan said she will remember him for his love and generosity.

“He was an amazing grandfather,” she said. “He took care of everyone who got in his way. I will miss him very much.”

She said that shortly before her death, she asked him if there were any places he would like to visit. His answer: Africa.

“I told him I would definitely go,” she said.

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