For decades Joseph Smith, 87, didn’t want to think or talk about his time in the Marine Corps.

“Whenever military service came up I couldn’t truthfully say, ‘Yeah, I’m a proud Marine,’” Smith said. “I tried to say it and it wouldn’t quite come out.”

Smith was one of thousands of African Americans who joined the Marine Corps during World War II and then learned they would be shipped off to a separate boot camp for blacks and serve in segregated support units commanded by white officers.

Along the way they suffered indignities — limited to support assignments while on duty, and confronted with racism when they were home on leave. After their service, they were not encouraged to stay in the military. Most faded from history.

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Pictured: Portrait of Howard P. Perry, the first African American to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, 1942. Breaking a tradition of 167 years, the United States Marine Corps started enlisting African Americans on June 1, 1942. The first class of 1200 volunteers began their training 3 months later as members of the 51st Composite Defense Battalion at Montford Point, a section of the 200-square mile Marine Base, Camp LeJuene, North Carolina. (Photo by Roger Smith/PhotoQuest/Getty Images)