LtCol L. J. Kimball, USMC (Ret) 9 Jan 2022 In August of 1942, the citizens of Onslow County were cheered by the news that the 1st Marine Division (MarDiv), which had occupied the adjoining Marine Corps base of Marine Barracks (MarBks) New River (now Camp Lejeune), since beginning with the advance party’s arrival in September 1941,…
Although the history of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River dates to 1941, hangar AS-840, the “King Air Hangar,” so named because the station Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron maintains the assigned UC-12F and UC-12W “King Airs” there, can trace its history back to the Marine Corps’ early expeditionary years immediately after World War I,…
On 10 May 1940, the Nazi blitzkrieg, achieving complete tactical and strategic surprise, thundered through and over the erst-while neutral Low Countries. Unprepared, ill-equipped and vastly outmanned, the Netherlands struggled heroically but futilely, collapsing completely by 15 May and surrendering, the royal family and the government having fled to England on the 13th. The scattered…
Onslow County, by November 1862, found herself on the frontiers of the Confederacy with the White Oak River separating the Union Forces operating out of enclaves in and around New Bern to the north and the Confederates headquartered at Wilmington to the south. Offshore, the Windswept ships of the blockading squadron ranged up and down the coast….
Beginning during the summer of 1940, the Marine Corps had actively searched the east and Gulf coasts for a division training area. A selection board, headed by Colonel Julian C. Smith, who would later command the 2nd Marine Division during the epic battle for Tarawa, eventually settled on the New River area of Onslow County. One…
June 1942 was a watershed year in history: The Battle of Midway, one of WW II’s most decisive, forever stopped the Japanese relentless expansion across the Pacific, placing their armed forces on the defensive until ultimate defeat. On the home front, in a first step down the long road to racial equality and the obtainment…
By the completion of the first phase of construction (15 Apr 1941-30 Sep 1942) at the New River Marine Barracks (subsequently Camp Lejeune), 1431 buildings had been finished. Of particular note were the two main post chapels-Building 16 (Protestant) and 17 (Catholic)-located on the Main Service Road (now McHugh Blvd) in the main post area,…
