INGE-JOHN

Excerpts from obituary published in San Diego Union Tribune on 11/8/2020:

John T. “JT” Inge was born in Danville, Virginia, on April 15, 1929.  He entered the Marine Corps on July 11, 1946 and underwent basic training at the segregated training facility Camp Montford Point.  His initial assignment was interior guard duty on Saipan from 1946 to 1947.  He was assigned to Guam in 1947 and was next returned to Camp Montford Point.  He was transferred to Camp Lejeune during the start of the full integration of African Americans into the Marine Corps.  In 1953 he was transferred to Korea where he was promoted to Staff Sergeant.  He next served in Japan until returned to the U.S. for service in San Francisco, Barstow, and Twenty-Nine Palms, California.  In 1964 he received orders to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, and following Drill Instructor training was Platoon Sergeant for recruit platoons.  In 1967 after being promoted to Gunnery Sergeant, he was transferred to Vietnam.  He returned to MCRD San Diego in 1968 where he served as Gunnery Sergeant until his retirement in 1969 after serving 23-years of honorable and faithful Marine Corps service.  In retirement, JT was an active life member of the Montford Point Marine Association, the VFW, American Legion, and the Elks Lodge.  On June 27, 2012 he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal authorized by President Barack Obama.  John T. “JT” Inge died on October 24, 2020 and is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego.

                    

On May 3, 2019, JT accompanied his daughter to a Padres baseball game in San Diego not knowing until arrival that his daughter was one of ten nurses to be honored on the field prior to the game as “Nurse Heroes in Scrubs.”  His daughter is well known as a champion for the underprivileged in Baltimore where for many years she has operated an organization which services the homeless and uninsured.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)