Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) Twentynine Palms | |
---|---|
San Bernardino County, near Twentynine Palms, California | |
![]() MCAGCC Insignia
|
|
Coordinates | 34°13′54″N 116°03′42″W / 34.23167°N 116.06167°WCoordinates: 34°13′54″N 116°03′42″W / 34.23167°N 116.06167°W |
Type | Military base |
Site information | |
Controlled by |
![]() |
Site history | |
Built | 1949 |
In use | 1949–present |
Garrison information | |
Current commander |
Brigadier General William F. Mullen, III, USMC |
Garrison |
7th Marine Regiment 1st Tank Battalion 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion 3rd Battalion 11th Marines 3rd LAR Battalion Co D, 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion MWSS-374 CLB-7 MCCES |
The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), also known as 29 Palms, is a United States Marine Corps base. It was a census-designated place (CDP) officially known as Twentynine Palms Base located adjacent to the city of Twentynine Palms in southern San Bernardino County, California. As of the 2000 census, the base had a total population of 8,413. The zip code of the base is 92278.
The CDP was discontinued prior to the 2010 census.
From 1942 through 1945, (during World War II), the now: "Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center", was a naval auxiliary air station. After the war its future was uncertain. Then, on August 20, 1949, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Headquarters issued Post Order 343 creating the Marine Corps Training Center, Twentynine Palms.
The United States later became embroiled in the Korean War. As the need for live-fire training grew along with the swelling ranks, it became obvious that more ranges were needed. Pendleton's Marines looked northward, and happened upon the abandoned Condor Field, a World War II Army and Navy glider base located in the vicinity of what is now mainside.
The base was redesignated on February 6, 1953 as Marine Corps Training Center, Twentynine Palms. By February 1, 1957, it grew to base status and was again redesignated as Marine Corps Base, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Only 70 Marines comprised the detachment at the Center. Manned by Marines from Camp Pendleton, its primary mission was to prepare the new base for the arrival of permanent personnel. By mid-December, 1952, a fresh 3rd Marine Division, with assistance from the 12th Marine Regiment, conducted the first large-scale, live-fire field exercise aboard the new base. The exercise gave Marines a glimpse of the facility's potential and foreshadowed the large-scale combined arms exercises for which the base is now known.