FLOODWATER. A CINCINNATI MAN IS BEING GIVEN ONE OF THE NATION’S HIGHEST HONORS. YEAH, HE WAS A MONTFORD POINT MARINE WHO CHANGED HISTORY IN AMERICA. WLWT NEWS FIVE’S CURTIS FULLER JOINS US WITH MORE ABOUT THE MAN RECEIVING THIS AMAZING HONOR. CURTIS. YEAH, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE STORIES THAT YOU LIKE TO LIKE TO DO. YOU KNOW, HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN MARINES THAT FACED DIFFICULT CHALLENGES TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY. AND TO BREAK BARRIERS WHEN HE TALKED TO US ABOUT IT, IT WAS, YOU KNOW, I DID I FOLLOWED ORDERS, I DID WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO, BUT HE NEVER TALKED ABOUT WHAT THE MONTFORD POINT MARINES ENCOUNTERED. YOU KNOW, THE RACISM AND SOME OF THE OTHER THINGS. HELEN WILLIAMS SHARES THE STORY OF HER LATE FATHER, JAMES ROGER WILLIAMS JR. HE DIED IN 1987 AT THE AGE OF 61. HE IS BEING HONORED POSTHUMOUSLY WITH THE OLDEST AND HIGHEST CIVILIAN AWARD IN THE UNITED STATES, THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL, FOR MAKING HISTORY HISTORY THAT WAS FORGOTTEN. WE KNEW WE HAD AN. AN EXTRAORDINARY FATHER, BUT YOU KNOW, AS YOU SAY, IF THINGS AREN’T EXPLAINED TO YOU, YOU KNOW, YOU JUST DON’T KNOW. AND SO IT’S SUCH AN HONOR TO AND IT’S LIKE, WOW. THE CINCINNATI NATIVE SERVED IN THE MARINE CORPS FROM 1942 TO 1949 AS ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN IN THE US MARINES KNOWN AS THE MONTFORD POINT MARINES. MOST MONTFORD POINT MARINES TODAY. ARE BETWEEN 90 AND 100 YEARS OLD. OUR ORGANIZATION IS ALL ABOUT IS PRESERVING THE HISTORY OF THOSE FIRST BLACK UNITED STATES MARINES AFTER THE MILITARY. JAMES WILLIAMS RETURNED TO CINCINNATI, WORKED THREE JOBS TO SUPPORT HIS FAMILY, BUT HIS DAUGHTER TOLD ME HE LIVED THE MOTTO ONCE A MARINE, ALWAYS A MARINE. DESPITE EVERYTHING HE HAD TO OVERCOME BECAUSE HE ALWAYS SAID, IF THEY CAN DO IT, I CAN DO IT. AND HE DID. YOU KNOW, MR. WILLIAMS HAD NINE CHILDREN, ALL OF THEM WILL BE THERE AT THAT CEREMONY LATER THIS MONTH. THE EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE IN DETROIT ON JUNE 23RD. I’