Camp Gilbert H. Johnson is a satellite camp of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina and home to the Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools (MCCSSS), where various support

military occupational specialties A United States military occupation code, or a military occupational specialty code (MOS code), is a nine-character code used in the United States Army and United States Marine Corps to identify a specific job. In the United States Air Force, a sy ...

such as administration,

supply Supply may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as in confidenc ...

, logistics, finance, Navy corpsman and motor transport maintenance are trained. Camp Johnson is situated on Montford Point, the site of recruit training for the first

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

to serve in the Marine Corps, known as "Montford Point Marines".

Mission

The purpose of the camp is to conduct formal resident training for officers and enlisted personnel in the occupational fields of logistics, motor transport, personnel administration, supply, and financial management (accounting and disbursing), as well as to conduct instructional management and combat water survival swim training. In addition to training Marines, Camp Johnson also houses the Field Medical Training Battalion, which trains corpsmen and religious program specialists of the Navy. The commanding officer of MCCSSS also serves as the area commander of Camp Johnson and provides administrative support to various tenant commands.

History

When President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As th ...

signed

Executive Order 8802 Executive Order 8802 was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1941, to prohibit ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation's defense industry. It also set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee. It was the first federal ac ...

, blacks were, for the first time, permitted to join the Marine Corps. Between 1942 and 1949, the camp at Montford Point was a recruit depot for black recruits, training 20,000 African Americans during that period. One of the first African Americans to enlist in the Marine Corps was Gilbert "Hashmark" Johnson, who became a

drill instructor A drill instructor is a non-commissioned officer in the armed forces, fire department, or police forces with specific duties that vary by country. Foot drill, military step, and marching are typically taught by drill instructors. Australia Aust ...

. Johnson served during World War II and the Korean War, ultimately receiving the rank of Sergeant Major. In 1948, by

Executive Order 9981 Executive Order 9981 was issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. This executive order abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces, and led to the re-inte ...

, President Harry S. Truman ordered the military to integrate. In 1974, Montford Point was renamed Camp Gilbert H. Johnson. Camp Johnson became the home of the Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools. In 2007, a documentary entitled ''The Montford Point Marine Project'' was released, honoring the black Marines who trained at Montford Point.

Montford Point Marines Museum

Camp Johnson is home to the Montford Point Marines Museum. The museum is located in the East Wing of building M101. The museum houses items and pictures of the camp during its years as a boot camp.

Memorials

Outside the gate of Camp Johnson stands a tribute to Marines, soldiers, and sailors who gave their lives trying to keep the peace in Lebanon. The Beirut Memorial is the site of an annual commemoration of the October

1983 Beirut barracks bombing Early on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two car bomb, truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the ...

, when 241 Marines, sailors, and soldiers were killed. The camp is home to a "

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

" memorial, and a Vietnam War memorial. The "9/11" memorial features a beam salvaged from the tower wreckage. The memorial area is used for many ceremonies, from promotions to retirements. The recently built Vietnam Memorial consists of many thick glass panes erected from the ground in a circular shape. Each pane of glass is etched with the names of all the service men and women who gave their lives during the Vietnam War. In the center of the memorial is a large water fountain. Directly across the street is the North Carolina Veterans Cemetery. This cemetery is the resting place of many Marine veterans. Funerals with

military honors A military funeral is a memorial or burial rite given by a country's military for a soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died in battle, a veteran, or other prominent military figures or heads of state. A military funeral may feature guards ...

are done on site. Funeral details are provided by the personnel of MCCSSS, Camp Johnson, and neighboring units.

References

External links

*
Montford Point Marines Museum
* * {{coord, 34.7357, -77.4072, region:US-NC_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Onslow County, North Carolina Jacksonville, North Carolina Military installations in North Carolina