Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune ( ) is a United States military training facility in Jacksonville , North Carolina . The base ' s 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 . History . In April 1941 , construction was approved on an 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 . 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 . MCB Camp Lejeune , can help to prepare warfighters for combat and humanitarian missions abroad , Camp Lejeune takes advantage of 156 , 000 acres , 11 miles of beach capable of supporting amphibious operations , 32 gun positions , 48 tactical landing zones , three state - of - the - art training facilities for Military Operations in Urban Terrain and 80 live fire ranges to include the Greater Sandy Run Training Area . Military forces from around the world come to Camp Lejeune on a regular basis for bilateral and NATO - sponsored exercises . Camp Lejeune was featured in the hit CW network drama " One Tree Hill " in late 2006 . Pollution . From at least 1957 through 1987 , Marines and their families at Lejeune drank and bathed in water contaminated with toxins at concentrations 240 to 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 . 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 . The base ' s wells were shut off in the mid - 1980s , but were placed back online in violation of the law . In 1982 , Volatile organic compounds ( VOCs ) were found to be in Camp Lejeune ' s drinking water supply . 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 . On March 8 , 2010 , Paul Buckley of Hanover , Massachusetts , received a 100 % , service connected disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs 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 . 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 . According to Camp Lejeune ' s installation restoration program manager , base officials learned in 2004 about the 1981 document . 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 . 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 . Twenty former residents of Camp Lejeune — all men who lived there during the 1960s and the 1980s — have been diagnosed with breast cancer . 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 . As many as 500 , 000 people may have been exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune over a period of 30 years . " Janey Ensminger Act . On 18 July 2012 the US Senate passed a bill , called the Janey Ensminger Act in honor of retired Marine Master Sargeant Jerry Ensminger ' s daughter Janey who died of cancer at age 9 , authorizing medical care to military and family members who had resided at the base between 1957 and 1987 and developed conditions linked to the water contamination . The measure applies to up to 750 , 000 people . The House approved the bill on 31 July 2012 . President Obama signed the bill into law on 6 August 2012 . The bill applies to 15 specific ailments believed to be linked to the contamination , including cancer of the esophagus , lung , breast , bladder or kidney ; leukemia ; multiple myeloma ; myleodysplasic syndromes ; renal toxicity ; hepatic steatosis ; female infertility ; miscarriage ; scleroderma ; and / or neurobehavioral effects or non - Hodgkin ' s lymphoma . The Department of Veterans Affairs is assigned by the bill to provide the medical care . To fund the medical care , the bill extends higher fees for VA home loan guarantees to 1 October 2017 . 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 . Other . American professional wrestler AJ Styles was born at Camp Lejeune on June 2 . 1977