Posts and stations inside the United States 938
Posts and stations outside the United States 181
Troop training units 3
Aviation 190
Fleet Marine Force (Ground) 1,327
Ships 3
En route 58
Missing in action 8

Total 2,708

_Source_: Tab 1 to Memo, ACofS, G-1, to Asst Dir of
Public Info, 6 Jun 51, sub: Queries Concerning
Negro Marines.]

The shift to integration in Korea proved uneventful. In the words of
the 7th Marines commander: "Never once did any color problem bother
us.... It just wasn't any problem. We had one Negro sergeant in
command of an all-white squad and there was another--with a graves
registration unit--who was one of the finest Marines I've ever
seen."[18-12] Serving for the first time in integrated units, Negroes
proceeded to perform in a way that not only won many individuals
decorations for valor but also won the respect of commanders for
Negroes as fighting men. Reminiscing about the performance of black
marines in his division, Lt. Gen. Oliver P. Smith remembered "they did
everything, and they did a good job because they were integrated, and
they were with good people."[18-13] In making his point the division
commander contrasted the performance of his integrated men with the
Army's segregated 24th Infantry. The observations of field commanders,
particularly the growing opinion that a connection existed between
good performance and integration, were bound to affect the
deliberations of the Division of Plans and Policies when it began to
restudy the question of black assignments in the fall of 1951.

[Footnote 18-12: Washington _Post_, February 27,
1951.]

[Footnote 18-13: USMC Oral History Interview, Lt Gen
Oliver P. Smith, Jun 69.]

As a result of the division's study, the Commandant of the Marine
Corps announced a general policy of racial integration on 13 December
1951, thus abolishing the system first introduced in 1942 of
designating certain un