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Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

Coordinates: 34°35′34.08″N 77°20′32.6″W / 34.5928000°N 77.342389°W / 34.5928000; -77.342389
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Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
Onslow County, near Jacksonville, North Carolina 34°35'34.08"N 77°20'32.60"W
MCB Camp Lejeune Insignia
TypeMilitary base
Site information
Controlled byUSMC
Site history
Built1941
In use1941–
Garrison information
GarrisonII Marine Expeditionary Force
Marine Special Operations Command

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (pronounced /ləˈʒuːn/[1] lə-ZHOON or /ləˈʒɜrn/ lə-ZHURN[2]) is a 246-square-mile (640 km2)[3] United States military training facility in 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 five 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.

Resident commands

History

Marine motor detachment, New River Barracks, 1942
Bermuda Regiment soldiers board a USMC CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter at Camp Lejeune, 1994

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.

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.[citation needed] 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.

Today MCB Camp Lejeune boasts 11 miles (18 km) of beach capable of supporting amphibious operations. There are 78 live-fire ranges, 98 maneuver areas, 34 gun positions, 50 tactical landing zones and a state-of-the-art Military Operations in Urban Terrain training facility. Military forces from around the world come to MCB Camp Lejeune on a regular basis for bilateral and NATO-sponsored exercises.

Pollution

Further information: Camp Lejeune water contamination

From at least 1957 through 1987, Marines and their families at Lejeune drank and bathed in water contaminated with toxins at concentrations up to 240-3400 times permitted by safety standards, and at least 850 former residents filed claims for nearly $4 billion from the military. The main chemicals involved were trichloroethylene (TCE), a degreaser, perchloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent, and benzene; however, more than 70 chemicals have been identified as contaminants at Lejeune.[4]

A 1974 base order required safe disposal of solvents and warned that improper handling could cause drinking water contamination. Yet solvents were dumped or buried near base wells for years.[5]

The base's wells were shut off in the mid-1980s, but were placed back online in violation of the law.[4] In 1982, Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were found to be in Camp Lejeune's drinking water supply.[6] VOC contamination of groundwater can cause birth defects and other ill health effects in pregnant and nursing mothers. This information was not made public for nearly two decades when the government attempted to identify those who may have been exposed.

An advocacy group called The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten was created to inform possible victims of the contamination at Lejeune. The group's website includes an introduction with some basic information about the contamination at Lejeune, including that many health problems various types of cancer, leukemia, miscarriages and birth defects, have been noted in people who drank the contaminated water. According to the site, numerous base housing areas were affected by the contamination, including Tarawa Terrace, Midway Park, Berkeley Manor, Paradise Point, Hadnot Point, Hospital Point, and Watkins Village.[7]

On March 8, 2010, Paul Buckley of Hanover, Massachusetts, received a 100%, service connected disability from the Veterans Administration for cancer (Multiple Myeloma), which was linked to toxic water exposure on Camp Lejeune. This is believed to be the first time the government has admitted the link between the contamination and illnesses.[8]

In 2007, Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine master sergeant, found a document dated 1981 that described a radioactive dump site near a rifle range at the camp. According to the report, the waste was laced with strontium-90, an isotope known to cause cancer and leukemia.[4] According to Camp Lejeune's installation restoration program manager, base officials learned in 2004 about the 1981 document.[4] Ensminger served in the Marine Corps for 24 and a half years, and lived for part of that time at Camp Lejeune. In 1985 his 9-year-old daughter, Janey, died of cancer.[4]

On July 6, 2009, Laura Jones filed suit against the US government over the contaminated water at the base. Jones previously lived at the base where her husband, a Marine, was stationed. Jones has lymphoma and now lives in Iowa.[9]

Twenty former residents of Camp Lejeune—all men who lived there during the 1960s and the 1980s—have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Due to the relatively low rate of male breast cancer in the United States, pollution at Camp Lejeune is presumed to be a major contributor to these illnesses.[10]

In April 2009, the United States Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry withdrew a 1997 public health assessment at Camp Lejeune that denied any connection between the toxins and illness.[11]

As many as 500,000 people may have been exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune over a period of 30 years. Although no official studies have definitively connected the contamination with illness, former residents of Camp Lejeune suffer from a high rate of cancer and other diseases.Children from the Marines have also shown signs of brain cancer and leukemia.[10]

Marine Corps Brig

The military prison at Camp Lejeune has been in operation since 1968 and currently has a maximum capacity of 280 inmates who are incarcerated between 30 and 90 days.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommended in 2005 that the brig be closed and the Secretary of Defense has to implement the commission's recommendations by a date still unknown. A new brig was built at Camp Allen in Norfolk, Virginia with a small detention facility built at Camp Lejeune to hold detainees awaiting court martial.

See also

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the United States Marine Corps.
  1. ^ Pronouncing The 'R' In Camp Lejeune "One of the Marine Corps' biggest bases is Camp Lejeune (luh-JUNE) in North Carolina. But for years, many people have been mispronouncing the base's name. The family of Lt. Gen. John Lejeune, whom the base was named for, says luh-JERN. Now there's quiet move in the military to correct the pronunciation."
  2. ^ Lejeune, Lejern, and How to Say It - Leatherneck Magazine
  3. ^ "Camp Lejeune History". United States. Retrieved 2007-10-01. {{cite web}}: Text "Lejeune" ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e Thompson, Estes (2007-07-10). "EPA investigating whether radioactive waste was buried at pollution-plagued Camp Lejeune". ABC News, Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  5. ^ Camp Lejeune residents blame rare cancer cluster on the water For three decades, dry-cleaning chemicals and industrial solvents laced the water used by local Marines and their families. Mike Partain and at least 19 others developed male breast cancer.
  6. ^ Coverage of what happened at Camp Lejeune
  7. ^ The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten. 2008-02-04. Access date 2008-02-06
  8. ^ Sawyer, Diane, and Steve Osunsami, "Toxic Water", ABC World News, March 19, 2010.
  9. ^ Contaminated Water At Base Spurs Suit July 7, 2009
  10. ^ a b Male breast cancer patients blame water at Marine base
  11. ^ ATSDR Withdraws Scientifically Flawed Public Health Document
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34°35′34.08″N 77°20′32.6″W / 34.5928000°N 77.342389°W / 34.5928000; -77.342389

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