f
larger white units. In March 1949 Secretary of the Navy Sullivan
reported that with the minor exception of several black depot
companies, the largest black units in the Marine Corps were platoons
of forty-three men, "and they are integrated with other platoons of
whites."[13-69]

[Footnote 13-69: Testimony of the Secretary of the
Navy Before President's Committee on Equality of
Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, 28
Mar 49, afternoon session, p. 15.]

[Illustration: GENERAL CATES.]

The cutback in the size and kinds of black units and the integration
of recruit training removed the need for the separate camp at Montford
Point, home base for black marines since the beginning of World War
II. The camp's last two organizations, a provisional company and a
headquarters company, were inactivated on 31 July and 9 September,
respectively, thus ending an era in the history of Negroes in the
Marine Corps.[13-70]

[Footnote 13-70: On the closing of Montford Point, see
Interv, Blumenson with Sgt Max Rousseau, Admin
Chief, G-1 Div, USMC (former member of the Montford
Point Camp headquarters), 21 Feb 66, CMH files.]

Composite grouping of small black units usually provided for separate
assignment and segregated facilities. As late as February 1949, the
commandant made clear he had no intention of allowing the corps to
drift into a _de facto_ integration policy. When, for example, it came
to his attention that some commanders were restricting appointment of
qualified black marines to specialist schools on the grounds that
their commands lacked billets for black specialists, the commandant
reiterated the principle that assignment to specialty training was to
be made without regard to race. At the same time he emphasized that
this policy was not to be construed as an endorsement of the use of
black specialists in white units. General Cates specifically
stipulated that where no billets in their specialty or a related one
were available for black specialists in black units, his headquarters
was to be informed. The implication of this order was obvious to the
Division of Plans and Policies. "This is an important one," a division
official commented, "it involves finding billets for Negro specialists
even if we have to create a unit to do it."[13-71] It was also obvious