Camp Courtney

Camp Courtney
Okinawa, Japan

Barracks buildings on Camp Courtney. (As seen from behind the movie theater.)
Type Military base
Site information
Controlled by  United States Marine Corps
Site history
In use January 1956–present
Garrison information
Garrison III MEF, 3d MarDiv, 3d MEB

Camp Courtney (Japanese: キャンプ・コートニー Hepburn: Kyampu Kōtonī) is a U.S. Marine Base located in Uruma City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.[1] It is part of the larger Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler and home to the III Marine Expeditionary Force, 3rd Marine Division, and 3d MEB Headquarters. It is named after Major Henry A. Courtney, Jr., who was killed in action in the Battle of Okinawa.[1] Camp Courtney covers 1.339 square kilometres (0.517 sq mi) in the Konbu, Tengan, and Uken districts of Uruma.[2]

History

Land was forcibly taken from local Okinawans and Camp Courtney was opened as a U.S. Marine Base in January 1956, when select units of the 3rd Marine Division were transferred there from Camp McGill in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan. Initially the base was called by its original name, Camp Tengan.[1] The first Marine units occupied Quonset huts, Nissen huts and Butler buildings. Most of the huts were "strong-backed", which means they had concrete or concrete block ends, with cables strung over them at intervals whose ends were anchored in the ground in concrete, and had wooden hurricane shutters over the windows. This was to protect the buildings during the frequent typhoons that visit the Ryukyu Islands. The original units at Camp Tengan were Headquarters Battalion, the Division Band and a truck battalion. Division Headquarters was mainly in a sprawling, one-story building just inside the main gate. Some other units, such as Division Legal Office, were in separate buildings. There was an Army anti-aircraft battery located adjacent to the camp. That unit used to conduct live-fire exercises once a month. For the new arrival, the unannounced firing sometimes caused momentary consternation.

Camp Courtney houses many military families, has a movie theater, exchange, commissary, medical and dental clinics, post office, chapel and bank.[3] Many marines living on Camp McTureous are stationed on Camp Courtney. Camp Courtney is surrounded by Okinawan restaurants, and shopping. The Michael Brown Okinawa assault incident occurred just outside the base on 2 November 2002.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "キャンプ・コートニー" [Camp Courtney]. Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. OCLC 173191044. dlc 2009238904. Archived from the original on 25 August 2007. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  2. ↑ Office of the Governor of Okinawa. "Present Condition of Bases within Okinawa Prefecture, Chapter 8: Outline of Bases, Section 1: Condition of American Military Facilities, Paragraph 1: Marine Corps, Subsection 8: FAC6029 Camp Courtney (page 204)" March 2013. Retrieved on 28 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Camp Courtney, Okinawa, Japan". Globalsecurity.org. 2012. Retrieved 19 Dec 2012.
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Coordinates: 26°23′31″N 127°51′34″E / 26.39194°N 127.85944°E / 26.39194; 127.85944

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