is a U.S. Marine Base located in Uruma City,

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

, Japan. 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 Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Henry A. Courtney Jr., who was killed in action in the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...

and covers in the Konbu, Tengan, and Uken districts of Uruma.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 28 February 2015.

History

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. The first Marine units occupied Quonset huts, Nissen huts and

Butler building The Butler Building was a mansion in Washington, D.C., constructed by Benjamin Franklin Butler. It served as the headquarters of the U.S. Marine Hospital Service and its successor, the Public Health Service, from 1891 until 1929. It also co ...

s. Most of the huts were "strong-backed", which means they had

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

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

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

s that visit the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

. The original units at Camp Tengan were

Headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

, the Division Band and a

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

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 An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

anti-aircraft battery located adjacent to the camp. That unit used to conduct live-

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

exercises once a month. For some new arrivals, 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. Many Marines living on Camp McTureous are stationed on Camp Courtney. The Michael Brown Okinawa assault incident occurred just outside the base on 2 November 2002.

References

External links

Camp S.D. Butler
at GlobalSecurity.org

{{US Marine Corps navbox Courtney Installations of the U.S. Department of Defense in Japan United States Armed Forces in Okinawa Prefecture

History

See also

References

External links