Oral History Interview with Herbert Brewer, February 18, 2008 Track: 1 of 1

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Herbert Brewer. Brewer joined the Marines on 1 July 1942. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Marines began accepting African-Americans for training. Due to concerns of racial problems the Marines built a training camp, Montford Point, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where Brewer trained. He was assigned to the 51st Defense Battalion, fire control section, working with 91mm antiaircraft guns. In 1943 his battalion was sent to a base in the Ellice Islands, now Tuvalu, for 6 months. Brewer was sent back to the U.S. to attend Purdue University, under the Navy’s V-12 education program, to study Civil Engineering. Once the war ended, he opted to take a commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserves, go on inactive duty and complete his degree at Purdue. He followed up with a master’s degree in the same field. He was called back to active duty when the Korean War began and completed Officer Training in Quantico, Virginia. He was assigned to be in command of an Antiaircraft Artillery Unit at Camp Pendleton. He was the first African-American colonel in the Marine Corps. He retired in 1973 as a full colonel.

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