Marine Corps Dress Blue Jacket of Leonard Burns

Gift of Leonard Burns, 2001. 573.009

On June 1, 1942, the Marine Corps opened its ranks to African Americans. The new recruits trained at the segregated Montford Point facility in North Carolina. By the end of the war, roughly 17,000 black men had enlisted in the Marine Corps. When New Orleans native Leonard Burns joined on June 3, 1942, he was the fifth African American to enter the Corps. His brother Winston joined a year later. Leonard Burns fought on Iwo Jima, landing on the island under heavy gunfire shortly after D-Day. He later served in Japan and was discharged with the rank of sergeant.