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Information About

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune




  location Jacksonville, North Carolina
  caption MCB Camp Lejeune Insignia
  type Military base
  built 1941
  used 1941 - present
  garrison II Marine Expeditionary Force


Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune is near Jacksonville, North Carolina , on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States .

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. As of the early 2000s, Onslow County's population was 143,491 of which 43,100 were active service members.

The base occupies 246 square miles (637 km²) and contains 6,946 buildings. The base's 14 miles (23 km) of beaches make it a major training area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports allows for faster deployments.

The main base is supplemented by four satellite facilities: Camp Geiger , Stone Bay , Courthouse Bay , Camp Johnson , and the latest addition to the facility, the Greater Sandy Run Training Area . When added to the main base and MCAS Cherry Point , they make up the largest concentration of Marines and U.S. Navy Sailors in the world.
being tested in 2002 at Camp Lejeune]]


HISTORY

In April 1941 , construction was approved on an 11,000-acre (45 km²) 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, N.C. The first base headquarters was in a summer cottage on Montford Point, then shifted to Hadnot Point in 1942 . Later that year it was renamed in honor of the 13th Commandant Of The Marine Corps , John A. Lejeune .

One of the satellite facilities of Camp Lejeune served for a while as a third Boot Camp for the Marines, in addition to Parris Island and San Diego . That facility, Montford Point , was established after Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 . Between 1942 and 1949, a brief era of segregated training for black Marines, the camp at Montford Point trained 20,000 African-Americans. After The Military Was Ordered To Fully Integrate , Montford Point was renamed Camp Gilbert H. Johnson and became the home of the Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools .


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