Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
Onslow County, in Jacksonville, North Carolina
MCB Camp Lejeune Insignia
Coordinates	34°35′N 77°20′W / 34.583°N 77.333°W / 34.583; -77.333Coordinates: 34°35′N 77°20′W / 34.583°N 77.333°W / 34.583; -77.333
Type	Military base
Site information
Controlled by	United States Marine Corps
Site history
Built	1941
In use	1941–present
Garrison information
Garrison	II Marine Expeditionary Force Marine Special Operations Command

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (/ləˈdʒɜːrn/ lə-JURN) is a 246-square-mile (640 km²)United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The base's 14 miles (23 km) of beaches make it a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports (Wilmington and Morehead City) allows for fast deployments.

The main base is supplemented by six satellite facilities: Marine Corps Air Station New River, Camp Geiger, Stone Bay, Courthouse Bay, Camp Johnson, and the latest addition to the facility, the Greater Sandy Run Training Area.

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. The first base headquarters was in a summer cottage on Montford Point, and then moved to Hadnot Point in 1942. Later that year it was renamed in honor of the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, John A. Lejeune.