Los Alamitos Medical Center volunteer Calvin Williams, 87, of Seal Beach was recognized on Friday by State and local officials for being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. It’s the highest honor bestowed upon a civilian, and was given to Williams for his service in the all-black Mountford Point Marines during World War II.
Ronnie Guyer, Senior Field Representative for State Assembly member Jim Silva (67th District), Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar, and Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce Chairman John Osborn were also on hand to give Williams awards as well.
“He’s a trail blazer,” said Mayor Edgar. “We should absolutely honor him, as this is something we do for heroes.”
Williams, who attended the services on Capitol Hill in late June, was one of 420 surviving Mountford Point Marines honored out of the 20,000 African American men who passed through boot camp from 1942 to 1949. After basic training, Williams served in an all black unit in the South Pacific during World War II. The Mountford Marines eventually paved the way for integration in recruit training and services in the Marines.
“Before Jackie Robinson, before Rosa Parks, and before Martin Luther King, Jr., these men were the pioneers of the civil rights movement,” he said. “These heroes joined the Marines to defend our great nation.”
In Washington D.C., Williams received a bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal. He traveled there with his youngest granddaughter. “When you see all the leaders of Congress there, it was quite overwhelming,” he said. “I’m very honored.”
“It’s important for young people to understand how things were before the civil rights movement,” he continued. “We were effecting change.”
At 18-years-old, Williams was drafted into the Marine Corp, and at that time a 167-year ban for recruiting blacks into the Marines was lifted by then President Franklin Roosevelt.
Williams has been a volunteer at Los Alamitos Medical Center for the last 3 years, and also served 6,000 hours of volunteer work at a local hospital in South Carolina before moving here.
