RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Marine Corps veteran who served in a segregated unit during World War II posthumously received a national honor on Sunday.

• Cpl. James Putney was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.
• Putney trained at Montford Point and served in the South Pacific from 1944 to 1946.
• His great-grandson Keith Chen accepted the medal on Putney's behalf.

Cpl. James Putney was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Putney trained at Montford Point, an all-Black camp adjacent to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, and served in the South Pacific from 1944 to 1946.

"At the time they joined, it was thought black people were not capable of serving their country and fighting in combat," said Marine Corps Brigadier General George Walls. "The Montford Point Marines succeeded in completing their training, they went to war, and they came back as true heroes."

Putney died in 2013.

His great-grandson Keith Chen accepted the medal on Putney's behalf. Chen is following in his great-grandfather's footsteps. He will begin Marine training at Parris Island this week.

"He basically opened a pathway for Black Americans like myself to join the Marine Corps," said Chen. "Me following him...I'm just at a loss of words."

More than 20,000 Black Marines trained at Montford Point when it operated from 1942 to 1949.