| John Paul Wright The Marine Corps | |
| John Paul Wright, born in Rembert, South Carolina on June 15, 1924, entered the U.S. Marine Corps on June 30, 1943. He served in the Pacific from December 10, 1943 to January 29, 1946 and participated in operations against enemy forces on Okinawa and Ryukyu Rhetto in 1945. Corporal Wright received his honorable discharge on February 20, 1946. |  John Paul Wright (far right) |
 Tribute to Willie Lee Ashley, Jr., a member of the 99th Fighter Squadron and South Carolina's first African American military pilot. Ashley flew seventy-seven missions during his fourteen months in the European Theatre. | One of the first one thousand African Americans accepted into the United States Marine Corps in 1943, Wright joined a deeply segregated military reluctant to place African Americans on the front lines. None of the Armed Services incorporated intergrated units and none wanted to field front line African American troops. However, the Army Air Corps (Forces) created the famed 99th Fighter Squadron which fought in the Mediterranean beginning in April 1943. |
| In the Pacific, African American marines assigned to support roles found themselves on the front lines and pulled into battle against the Japanese. The Army's 761st Tank Battalion earned a Commendation for service in the Ardennes and soldiers in the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion earned eight Silver Stars, twenty eight Bronze Stars, and seventy nine Purple Hearts. | |
| Even though the U.S. military remained reluctant to accept African American troops, by the end of World War II, more than 700,000 African Americans served in the Army, 170,000 served in the Navy and Coast Guard, and the thousand men who entered the Marine Corps in 1943 had been joined by an additional 16,000 men. Their service during World War II led to lasting changes in the lives of African Americans throughout the United States. | |
Framed Display Loan courtesy of Bill Skroach, Flight Captain, Order of the Daedalians, Shaw AFB, SC | |
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