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Obituary for ELMER MACKALL
Elmer Mackall, son of the late Bertie Jones Mackall and Malcolm Mackall, born on September 29, 1925, departed this life on December 20, 2017 at the Calvert County Nursing Center in Prince Frederick, Maryland.
He was educated in the Calvert County Public School system. In 1943, he was one of the first Blacks drafted into the Marine Corps. After indoctrination in Baltimore, he was sent by train to Camp Montford Point in North Carolina. The first Black recruits received basic training there. The quota of 1,200 men was housed in prefabricated huts near Jacksonville. Railroad tracks divided white residents from the Black troops, and the Black recruits were not allowed to enter nearby Camp Lejeune unless accompanied by a white marine.
After basic training, Corporal Mackal.l was sent to Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. The all Black company's job was to supply ammunition. They slept on the island in one man tents. Mr. Mackall especially remembered the heat and the "plentiful number of snakes."
When the war ended, Corporal Mackall returned to Calvert County and married Lillie Mae Jacks. From this union, six children were born: Phyllis Joyce Mackall Lester, Ronald Gene Mackall (Pekolia), Marvin Louis Mackall (Virginia), Glenn Stuart Mackall (Elaine), Larry Hilton Mackall (Stephanie), and Marshall Erwin Mackall; six grandchildren: Terrence, Tyrone, Terrell, Jamar, and Dexter Mackall, and Montre White; eight greatgrandchildren; two sisters: Eilene Rice and Joesther Brooks; two brothers-in-law: James Wallace and Gene Long; one sister-in-law, Rose Holland, and a host of nieces and nephews.
Elmer was preceded in death by his wife, Lillie Mae Mackall, grandchildren Travis and Tromain Mackall, brothers: Lemuel, Benjamin, Charles, and sisters: Mary Reed, Pauline Rice, and Eva Smith.
