Joe Wilder, Montford Point Marine & jazz legend, honored posthumously with Congressional Gold Medal
MANHATTAN (WABC) -- A Montford Point Marine and jazz legend was posthumously honored with a Congressional Gold Medal in Manhattan on Monday.
American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Joe Wilder was recognized for his service and personal sacrifice during World War II.
His widow and daughter were presented with the medal -- one of the highest civilian honors.
Wilder enlisted in the Marines and was sent to Jacksonville, North Carolina, for training with the first Black men to become Marines -- known as the historic Montford Point Marines.
He was one of the first 1,000 African American men to train under the harsh conditions at the racially segregated base. It was a brutally hot, snake-infested and substandard facility.
When he was 21 in 1942, Louis Armstrong came to perform and needed help. Wilder joined the horn section when the regular trumpeter became ill.
Initially trained as a sharp shooter, Wilder was then moved to star trumpet soloist and then Marine Corps assistant band master -- the first African American to serve in that role.
And he would work with Armstrong again - playing trumpet in one of Armstrong's most unforgettable gifts to music.
"Joe and Lewis' relationship and friendship went on, and you can hear him playing in the orchestra on Louis Armstrong's 1967 performance of 'What a Wonderful World,'" Mallorie Berger said.
Wilder's daughter is proud of her father but says she has mixed emotions about his experience at Montford Point. She said it filled his life with a sense of duty and discipline.
"He would proudly tell anyone who would listen at the VA that he was still doing and had always done his Marine workout, he did it until he was 90," his daughter Elin Wilder-Melcher said.
Wilder served in the Marines for three years, from 1943 to 1946. His career as a musician spanned more than five decades. He performed with Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Lunceford, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie.
Along with holding a principal chair in a Broadway show orchestra, he also was among the first African Americans to join the ABC-TV network studio orchestra.
Wilder died on May 9, 2014, at the age of 92 in New York City.
His family accepted the award on his behalf during a ceremony at the historic Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress and is the highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals and institutions.
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