When Charles (Cee Jay) Jones opened the door to his Oak Bluffs living room last week, he held out his arms for a hug and greeted the visitors with a famous Cee Jay-ism.

“Ta-ta,” he said, and proudly presented the three letters he’d received from Congress, notifying him he’d be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress, along with nearly 400 other former marines. Rhythm and blues music played on the television. 

At 95, Mr. Jones is warm, upbeat and agile. He’s a longtime Island resident, a loyal Oak Bluffs information booth operator, and a friend to all. He’s also a member of a group of unsung heroes, the first African American marines who were trained for service in World War II at Montford Point, North Carolina, a segregated training facility that operated from 1942-1949.

Last fall, Congress approved legislation to award the Montford Point Marines the Congressional Gold Medal. And in November, President Obama made it official. “Like the way they honored the Tuskegee airmen,” Mr. Jones said. The Tuskegee airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States armed forces.

Even after Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the Marine Corps to accept African Americans, they still were not allowed to advance beyond platoon sergeant, and many white marines still failed to treat them like eligible servicemen. Black marines were not allowed to visit nearby Camp Lejeune unless a white officer accompanied them.

“It was all segregated,” Mr. Jones said. “We had black drill instructors. The whites taught the blacks how to become drill instructors.” Some were decent leaders, Mr. Jones said, including his own drill instructor. “He wouldn’t have us doing anything that he wouldn’t do,” he said. Others, dubbed bootkillers, were cruel.

They seemed to want to pass on the same pain the white instructors had inflicted on them, Mr. Jones said. “They wanted you to do what they had to do to become drill instructors. Some of them wanted to take out on us what had been done to them.”

After finishing a month-long training at Montford Point, Mr. Jones avoided service overseas because he played the bugle for mail call. He was sent instead to a marine base outside of Philadelphia, where he worked in the Marine Corps redistribution and salvage division.

“When somebody was shot, killed, injured, whatever they had was shipped back: their ammunition, food, clothes, anything,” he recalled. “Their gear was sent to us, and we would salvage the good from the bad.”

As was the case in many places during that time, black marines were not allowed to mingle with whites, even in a northern city like Philadelphia.

“There was a lot of stuff we had to go through.” Mr. Jones remained a private throughout the entire 29 months he was employed by the marines. He was promoted to corporal when he was discharged. “[African American marines] were not allowed to hold positions of rank,” he said.

But Mr. Jones has few complaints. “All you had to do was keep your nose clean and your shoes shined and stay out of trouble,” he said. “Otherwise, you were shipped overseas.

”Most of his fellow marines would put on casual clothes when they got off work at 4 p.m. Not Mr. Jones. He kept his uniform on all night long, he said. “It did a lot of stuff for me in Philadelphia,” he said, winking. “Philadelphia was like New York City. I went to all the hot spots: the Showboat, Catherine’s, everywhere.”

Mr. Jones said he was “very elated, surprised, gratified and happy,” when he found out about the Gold Medal on May 31. He’s in the process of having copies of the congressional invitations made to send to his five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren. “The end result is all that counts,” he said. “I was proud to have been a marine.”

On June 27, Mr. Jones will be honored alongside the 379 other living Montfort Point Marines in Washington D.C. The following day each will receive a replica of the Gold Medal. The original gold medal will be displayed in the National Museum of Marine Corps.

When asked what it felt to receive an award previously given to the likes of the Wright Brothers, Rosa Parks and Sister Teresa, Mr. Jones appeared surprised. “I’m really pleased,” he said simply. Another acquaintance of his, David Dinkins, former mayor of New York City, was also a Montford Point Marine. But the vast majority of the 20,000 men who trained there are deceased. Is the medal coming too late, a reporter wonders?

Mr. Jones said he feels “lucky” that Congress got around to award the medal at all. “I have been blessed all my life,” he said.

Mr. Jones seems to harbor little resentment, despite having suffered injustices. “I believe you should enjoy life and stay positive,” he said. “Negativity will get you nothing. But positivity lessens the pain.”