ignored the central issue, the existence of a
segregated branch in which black marines performed menial, nonmilitary
duties.

[Footnote 10-29: Msg, CG, Cp Lejeune, N.C., to CMC, 31
Dec 48.]

Headquarters later resorted to other expedients. It obtained
seventy-five more men from the Navy and lowered the qualification test
standards for steward duty. But like earlier efforts, these steps also
failed to produce enough men.[10-30] Ironically, while the corps aroused
the ire of the civil rights groups by maintaining a segregated
servants' branch, it was never able to attract a sufficient number of
stewards to fill its needs in the postwar period.

[Footnote 10-30: Memo, Chief of Naval Personnel and
CMC for All Ships and Stations, 28 Feb 49, sub:
Discharge of Stewards, USN, For the Purpose of
Immediate Enlistment in Marine Corps, Pers-66,
GenRecsNav; Memo, CMC for Dir of Recruiting, 25 Feb
49, sub: Mental Requirements for Enlistment for
"Steward Duty Only," A0-1; Ltr, CMC (Div of
Recruiting) to Off in Charge, Northeastern
Recruiting Div, 3 Mar 49, sub: Mental Standards for
Enlistment for Steward Duty Only, MC1088081; Msg,
CMC to Div of Recruiting, 7 Apr 49.]

Many of the corps' critics saw in the buildup of the Steward's Branch
the first step in an attempt to eliminate Negroes from the general
service. If such a scheme had ever been contemplated, it was
remarkably unsuccessful, for the corps would enter the Korean War with
most of its Negroes still in the general service. Nevertheless, the
apprehension of the civil rights advocates was understandable because
during most of the postwar period enlistment in the general service
was barred to Negroes or limited to a very small number of men. Closed
to Negroes in early 1947, enlistment was briefly reopened at the rate
of forty men per month later that year to provide the few hundred
extra men called for in the reorganization of the Operating Force
Plan.[10-31] Enlistment was again opened in May 1948 when the recruiting
office established a monthly quota for black recruits at ten men for
general duty and eight for the Steward's Branch. The figure for
stewards quickly rose to thirty per month, but effective 1 May 1949
the recruitment o