Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune is located in Jacksonville, North Carolina on the Atlantic sea board. Camp Lejeune is home to the U.S. Marine Corps's II Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Marine Division, three other major marine commands and a naval hospital. The installation occupies 246 square miles and contains 6,946 buildings. The total base population is now 143,491 of which 43,100 are in uniform. The base's 14 miles of beaches make it a major training area for amphibious assault training while its location between two deep water ports allow for faster deployments. The main base is supplemented by four satellite facilities, which when added to the main base and MCAS Cherry Point, provide the largest concentration of Marines and U.S. Navy sailors in the world. These satellite facilities are: Camp Johnson, home to the Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools, Camp Geiger, Stone Bay, and Courthouse Bay.
History
In April of 1941 construction was approved on an 11,000 acre tract in Onslow County, North Carolina. On May 1 of that year Lt. Col. William P. T. Hill began construction on Marine Barracks New River, NC. The first base headquarters was in a summer cottage on Montford Point then shifted to Hadnot Point in 1942. Later
that year it was then renamed in honor of the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, John A. Lejeune.
External Links
- Base homepage
- Base history
