Hey listeners, Michael Garoflo here.

We're currently working on a new season of the podcast for you.

That's coming later this month.

But today, I want to share something cool that we recently found in our archive.

You've heard us talk about the archive. It's the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.

There are more than 700,000 people in there.

It's public, too. You can actually access it online at archive.

StoryCorps.org and listen to full-length unedited interviews. If you've done an interview

you can even look yourself up there.

And here at Storycourt we're constantly diving into the archive, rummaging around

to see what we can turn up. And recently one of our producers Kayla Lattimore

discovered what you're going to hear next.

Kayla was looking for stories from veterans as part of our military voices initiative,

which records service members and their families.

And she found that we had a bunch of recordings

with Montford Point Marines.

In 1942, the Marine Corps officially opened

its ranks to black men.

More than 19,000 black recruits signed up and became known as the Montford Point

Marines named for the North Carolina base where they trained. Most of these men have passed

away, but because they made the recordings you're about to hear,

we can still listen to them today. Do you remember the first time you put on the uniform?

...