 You bet your life it was. Marine Corps Boot Camp was an eye-opening experience for Edgar Law. That's why I first felt that there was something different between the races. But Von Whitworth knew better. I did not have any adverse thoughts about it because I grew up in North Carolina and I was familiar with, you know, the way things work. So it really didn't affect me one way or the other. Still, segregation was new to Northerners, like Leroy Pittman. When we got to Washington D.C., the train conductor put us up in the front, up near the smoke engine. And that's when I realized, you know, that things were beginning to change because I was separated from the white boys that I traveled with. These men were there, just like Jack McDowell. On the base, they were all black guys, it wasn't a problem, until I graduated from Boot Camp and had to leave the base. That base was called Montford Point, a small segregated camp on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where 19,000 black recruits went to Boot Camp from 1942 to 1949. They wanted me to become a steward, and I said, I didn't join the Marine Corps to be a steward, I came to fight Japanese, and they said, you're going to a steward's school. I said, aye, aye, sir, I went to a steward's school. Of course, we all flunked out on purpose, and they sent us overseas to Okinawa. We got there two weeks before they dropped the bombs on Japan. I felt when I finished Boot Camp that if my officer had told me to attack a tank with a toothpick, I would have done it, because I felt I could defeat that tank. That was the thing that carried me through life. And life went on for them in the years after Montford Point, but not without each other. Big firefighter. No way to get out. My company was, you know, we were rear-guarded for the whole battalion. Out of nowhere comes these tanks, and person sitting on top. He got us out of there. He gave me the finger as he went by, but he got us out of there. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today. It's a good thing he is. After 70 years, McDowell, along with 300 of his fellow Montford Point Marines, is here at the U.S. Capitol to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. It's Congress' highest honor, bestowed upon these men in recognition for breaking the Marine Corps color barrier a quarter century before the Civil Rights Movement. People never knew I was in the Marine Corps because I don't brag about that, but it's something that I'm very proud of myself. And this day, above all others, in my life, is the crowning glory. I really appreciate what is happening. It's one of the best days of my life. And I'm really proud to be a Marine. It's a long time coming, and it just overwhelms me, you know, that this has come to pass. And I'm glad that I'm still here to see it happen. To me, the greatest story is the transition that took place over the years, up until now, and all the good things that have happened as a result of that. And that's what I think the medals should represent, not the bad times, but all the good times that have followed some 60 years after that. From Washington, I'm Sergeant Todd Hunter.