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Weirton man keeps World War II history alive

Ambrose Bolling of Weirton has numerous stories about black history. He is a member of the Ohio Memorial Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen in Columbus and the Montford Point Marines group located in North Carolina. He is holding the book written by Robert C. Doyle, a history professor at the Francican University of Steubenville, called “Voices of Captivity." — Esther McCoy

WEIRTON — Black History Month continues this month, but Ambrose Bolling of Weirton makes sure that it is alive and well throughout the year. He believes in “keeping history alive.”

With Bolling it began when he started attending the Tuskegee Airmen Conventions, back when there were many vital members from the group alive and anxious to see each other every year.

In attending the convention in Indianapolis the last weekend last July, he noted there were only 13 original airmen attending. But there was a nice turnout of other airmen and others interested in seeing each other again year after year, he noted.

Charles McGee, 97, is the spokesman for the airmen group but was not in attendance in 2016 due to other commitments. He was inducted into the Tuskegee Airmen Hall of Fame in 2011 in Dayton, and Bolling knows him well.

When asked if McGee, who is from Cleveland but now is living in Maryland, wore a uniform from his past for the induction, Bolling said an updated uniform was worn when he was honored.

“I talk to him on the telephone occasionally,” he said of the honored pilot.

Bolling, a member of the Ohio Memorial Chapter in Columbus, subscribes to an aviation magazine and was reading about the pilots nine years ago and took an interest in attending a reunion, as he refers to the gatherings. “I once belonged to a Pittsburgh chapter that met once a month but it folded,” he said.

The first one he attended had about 200 of the World War II heroes in attendance. “That is how fast they are leaving this earth,” he said of the airmen who would have been in their 80s at that time. There are now only 23 actual Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots still alive. He went on to explain that along with the fighter pilots are the bomber crews.

“But the pilots got all the glory,” Bolling said with a smile.

Another historical part of World War II is the Montford Point Marines that Bolling is studying with enthusiasm. He saw a program on the History Channel about the warriors and became very interested.

“Many of the 20,000 were from the South, and survivors usually had a convention in North Carolina, but in 2017 it will be in Los Angeles. They had the first black general in the Marines, Frank Petersen, who died in 2015. He was a three-star general,” Bolling related.

“I met a black Marine captain at an earlier airshow who had served with Petersen,” he said.

Information obtained by Bolling online describes the use of a segregated training ground from 1942 to 1949 for the nation’s first African-American Marines at Montford Point, N.C.

A memorial now stands outside the gates of Camp Johnson to commemorate their historic achievements in the face of racial segregation.

The memorial dedication brought out hundreds of Montford Point Marines, family members, active duty service members and supporters to the National Montford Point Marine Memorial at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune on July 29 of last year.

There stands a bronze 15-foot statue representing African-American Marines who left behind combat support duties in the Corps to pick up a rifle to be a part of the main effort along with the other Marines.

Behind the statue stands the 90-mm M1A1 anti-aircraft gun, the primary anti-aircraft weapon of the Montford Point Marines with the 51st and 52nd defense battalions. To the left stands a marble wall with 20,000 stars to honor the approximate number of African-American Marines who trained there before they were integrated. No official records were kept at the time to identify each one.

Smiles and tears were visible on the faces of the elder Marines each time a new speaker came to the podium and recounted the history of what their men had done. And on more than one occasion, they gave motivated shouts of encouragement.

“This is something I never thought would happen. I heard about it being in the making but didn’t think it could be true. I thought we were the forgotten 20,000,” Ivor Griffin, Montford Point Marine of 23 enlisted years said.

A story by Lance Cpl. Sean Barry states about 400 of the Marines are still living and are thrilled to know they will be remembered.

Bolling has a book “Voices of Captivity,” written by Robert C. Doyle, a history professor at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, concerning the USAF and Tuskogee Airmen that is autographed by Doyle.

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