The Person Who Influenced Dad's Decision In Joining The Marines

The fateful meeting with James Huger in Clifford Primus' hometown of  Daytona Beach, Florida obviously influenced the teenager. Even today, my father vividly described the six stripes up and six stripes down on Huger's uniform. James Huger, as my dad would say in his own parlance, "Is a heavy dude." Heavy meaning "serious and intense", for my English as a Second Language Readers.

Source: newsjournalonline.mycapture 

Mr. Huger credits two women for making a difference in his life:  His wife of 71 years, the late Phanye Huger, and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. Dr. Bethune founded Historically Black Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida. She was also close friends with Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and was a leader in civil rights. I envision Phanye Huger as a very supportive and intelligent woman; she was a school principal who I am willing to bet impacted many lives.

 Source: vintageblackglamour tumblr.com
Dr Bethune and students at the college* she founded. 

James Huger moved to Daytona Beach, Florida from West Palm Beach, Florida. His father was a prominent minister who housed Dr. Bethune at the Huger home in West Palm Beach, as people of color could not stay in hotels. Later on, James Huger worked at Bethune Cookman and earned a degree in Business Administration from West Virginia State University. Bethune helped him get a job in the War Department, and he enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1941. 1941 was the year that the Marine Corps finally accepted African-Americans. The Marines were the last branch of the American armed forces to do so.


James Huger also served as general secretary for Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., the nation's first Black fraternity and service organization, in 1939.  It was Huger and several of his Alpha brothers who years later went to fellow Alpha brother Dr. Martin Luther King's Miami trial. Mr. Huger and his friends "were shocked how King was treated by his own attorney." Dr. King's attorney  referred to his client as that boy. (Iinformation obtained by Daytona Times, April 6, 2012.) Huger and others assisted Dr. King financially. They raised significant amounts of money for the civil rights movement.

Huger was asked by Bethune to be in charge of the first UNCF (United Negro College Fund) for Bethune Cookman-College. To date, UNCF has raised more than 2 billion dollars to help a total of more than 350,000 students to attend college, more than any entity outside of the government. (Source: UNCF.org)

Source: alumniunit.com

If you were African American and were fortunate enough to go to college in the South during the first half of the 1900s, you went to a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). Higher institutions of learning did not accept African Americans, hence Black land grant and private intuitions were established. Most were established after the American Civil War and in the South except for two in the state of Pennsylvania and two in Ohio. Ohio and Pennsylvania prohibited slavery;  three of these Northern HBCUs were established before the Civil War.     (Source: U.S. Department of Education, 2008-01-17, White House Initiative on HBCUs)

What better person to get my father to enlist in the Marines than James Huger? A hometown hero, college graduate, officer, and a man of honor?


*White Hall, a building on Bethune-Cookman's campus, is listed in the National Registry of Historical Sites

"Dad Decides to Become A Marine"

Clifford Primus had earned a great salary at his position at a defense factory. He sent money home to his mother in Florida on a monthly basis. He enjoyed the less overt racist atmosphere in his newly adopted state of Connecticut, which in the 1940s was a predominately white state that had small concentrations of people of color. As a teenager, he was able to buy a nice wardrobe, party, listen to jazz and the blues, and make trips to New York City. He was what you considered a handsome man, and by his accounts, "had to beat the ladies off with a stick." At six feet tall he was the shortest of four boys. Clifford had abundant energy, and still is very smart, personable and popular.

Source:ibtimes.com

During these times, some young, able-bodied males were doing everything in their power to avoid being drafted into World War II. Some went as far as even shooting themselves in the foot with a gun. The movie, "A League of Their Own" depicts one of the main character's husband doing this.Others would pretend that they had a mental illness or moral issues to avoid being drafted. Certain religions cannot participate in war, and their adherents would be considered "conscientious objectors". Two decades later Heavy weight boxing champ, Muhammad Ali, a member of the Nation of Islam, was banned from boxing for several years because he refused to register with the Selective Service* during the Vietnam War. His famous words were, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong!"

Source: publicenemymyafrica.com

Chuck D, of the seminal hip hop group Public Enemy, rapped famously in the song, "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos":

I got a letter from the government the other day
I opened and read it it said they were suckers
They wanted me for their army or whatever
Picture me given a damn I said never
Here is a land that never gave a damn
About a brother like me and myself
Because they never did.

And also......

"They could not understand that I'm a Black man and I could never be a veteran."  Writers: Carlton Ridenhour,William Drayton, Hank Shocklee, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler.  (Def Jam Recordings, 1988)

                                                                                   ***

source: library.kcc.hawaii.edu

However..... Blacks in the 1940s were trying to boldly enter institutions and seek admittance to organizations that did not want them. Negros wanted to prove to the world that they were just as capable of integrating major league baseball, staying at hotels, owning property, attending colleges, etc. The US Marines were the last branch of the Armed Forces that held out in accepting African Americans. So a test was instituted in seeking recruits, just like the army's use of Negro pilots with the Tuskegee Airmen, as portrayed in the movie "Red Tails" in 2012.

Source: snafu-solomon.blogspot.com

Little did Clifford know that a trip back home to Daytona Beach, Florida for a brief visit would forever change his life. He met an impressive man by the name of James Huger, who informed him that the US Marines were looking for bright African American college graduates. They could not find enough college grads so they then sought  intelligent high school graduates. James Huger, now 97, was a commissioned officer during WWII and later became a Daytona Beach City Commissioner and Volusia County Councilman.

Particularly in the south during these times racism was blatant.  Grown African American men were called "Boy" to their faces and never a respectful title such as" Mister" or "Sir". Dad made the conscious decision to sign up for the Marines.  He also made it clear that he wanted to serve in the combat division because he wanted to make history.




*Selective Service-Per Selective Service Government Guide:  All male US citizens and male aliens living in the US who are 18 through 25 are required to register. In times of military crisis, a random lottery and or year of birth determines who is drafted.