Museum of the Marine

Our Story

Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point and New River, North Carolina are sacred ground to all Marines. On these bases and their supporting auxiliaries, more than four million Marines and other members of the sea services – known as the Carolina Marines – have heeded the call to defend their country and have prepared themselves to respond to crises anywhere in the world.

Since being established during World War II, these bases have played a critical role in the training of an elite fighting force and in the development of technological and tactical innovations.

In many ways, the war in the Pacific from 1942 until 1945 was won on the beaches of Onslow County, North Carolina and in the skies of eastern North Carolina, as the area became a center for amphibious training and the building of Marine units.

The two Army divisions that spearheaded the Allied assault on North Africa and Europe were likewise trained in amphibious operations by Marines and Coast Guardsmen at Camp Lejeune.

A brief history

The Marine Corps came to North Carolina in 1941, following the decision by the U.S. to construct a base devoted to the organization and training of a Marine division. This base, ultimately named Camp Lejeune, was the site at which one complete Marine division (the 1st Marine Division) and components of four additional Marine divisions were trained during World War II. The first African American Marines all trained at Camp Lejeune, as did nearly all of the 23,000 women Marine reservists.

At nearby Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station and its 16 subordinate air stations and air fields, 17 Marine Corps Aircraft Groups and 91 Marine aviation squadrons were trained and deployed, mostly to the Pacific theater.

Our Carolina bases and units endured significant reductions following the war. With the eruption of the Korean War in 1950, however, military leaders quickly realized the need for amphibious expertise and both were substantially augmented. The vastly under-manned 1st Marine Division, then on the west coast, was brought to wartime strength by transferring Camp Lejeune’s 2nd Marine Division units to the 1st Marine Division and changing their designations.

With this reinforcement, the 1st Marine Division conducted what is considered to be the most successful amphibious assault in military history at Inchon, radically altering the course of the war.

Through the wars in Vietnam, the Balkans, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Africa and Iraq, the Carolina Marines have continued to prepare right here on the coast to conduct our country’s most challenging military operations at the “tip of the spear.”