Montford Point Marines Louis Massengale and Jimmy Hargrove Audio Interview Pt3

Montford Point Marines Louis Massengale and Jimmy Hargrove expound on their family lives and what it means to be part of the Montford Point Marines in this part-3 interview with host Patricia Williams.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

LV55 Media LLC presents the Heroes of Montfort Point Interview series featuring Montfort Point Marines, Lewis Massingale, and Jimmy Hargrove, part three, hosted by Patricia Williams.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

You're working for justice, equality, and by all means you must have forgiveness to reach the other utopias of life that forget that patch. You don't really forget it, but don't bring it up. It's like a person owes you. You know, you know, I loan this guy money and he won't pay me. You knew it when you were going to him, he wasn't gonna pay you. I tell you he won't, he won't come back. Right. But if he does come back, would you take it? Yes, you would. But I have learned through my career or 30 years that to have forgiveness. And it's worked for me and it worked for anybody. Don't care the bitterness around with you. Release it, and God will promote you. And that's been that's my story. Yeah, been joining all the way. Thank you. And I thank you for your interview.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Very good. Appreciate it. Um let's see. I may have one additional question for you here. Um so what tell me what what would you want the general public to know, or the youngsters or the younger people who are coming up now? What would you like for them to know about the Monfort Point Marines? What would you like for what's a point that you would like for them to know?

SPEAKER_02 1:49

One I would love for them to know about the history of the Monfa Point. And uh what some of the things that we had to go through to uh get through the 30, 24 years uh of service. It wasn't easy. Um many of them these days take uh for granted that uh an education is owed to them and it's not. Uh mom and dad worked very hard for them to to send them to school to take advantage of it every chance that you possibly can. Because an education is worth more nowadays than it were when we was going to school. A high school education uh back when we finished school was uh I say was equivalent to maybe uh BS degree. And and you get paid uh probably as much or maybe more. Uh I noticed that in uh after I got out of the Navy and I decided to go back into uh uh to school and then into service. And I found out that education was very valuable. And young people should think of this every chance they get, take it. Education's uh here it's given to them nowadays. Yes. Take advantage of it because it will pay off at the end.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

How about you say that?

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Well, I'm very fortunate. Between my wife and I, we have five boys but no girls, and they all are successful. One's a chiropractor in Atlanta, Georgia, attended Life University. I have two sons that are chefs. Oh so my background in food services puts them into um to be the best. And one works at a private school in Washington, where these kids' parents have plenty of money. Money is no problem with them. And he's a manager and also manage the other employees that work there, does all the purchasing and manages the people, and he loves it. You know? And I have uh another son that lived here for a while with Sanson Corporation. He's in Connecticut now. And then another son that works for the insurance company in Maryland, he loves it. So they all have been successful, been good boys, never been in any trouble because dad held them to a point. My son was simply relevant for me to whoop him than to talk to him. Say, because you could hold them their attention. And uh, and believe it or not, um, if you set the example and stick to it, you're gonna have good children. You know, and I said, this is what we're gonna do, because it was raised when I was in the military. And you know, you you go and get food on the commissary on payday. Okay. And during that time, in fact, I was stationed in Honolulu when it became a state. This oldest son of mine uh wanted to challenge me. I said, what's what's what's the problem? He says, uh, I had to fix the food for him and had dessert, and he wanted more cookies than anybody else. I said, well, everybody had the same amount. How many you want? He said, I'll eat the whole bag. I said, oh yeah. Okay, I'll I'll tell you what I'll do. You can eat the whole bag, but you better not leave not one. So start eating. He laughed at me. Well, he couldn't make it. And I had to spank him. I said, now you know what? I hate to do this. Well, I'm gonna teach you a lesson. About your eyes as bigger than your stomach. Okay? Now you laughed at me. So I'm gonna spank you until you laugh. And the expression on his face, trying to laugh and cry at the same time, was something I had to laugh about myself. He tells that story to his grandkids. So that's the first spanking that my dad gave me, and I deserved it. You know? He says, and I remember that today. But it's life. Teach them and hold them to the standards. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Special thanks to Jimmy Michael Truett and the National Montfort Point Marine Association. This episode was recorded on location at the Four Points by Sheridan, San Diego, California, on February 28th, 2013.