Congress authorized Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on
July 9, 1941, with an initial appropriation of $14,990,000 for
construction and clearing of an 8,000-acre tract of swamps, farms
and timberland.
Actual clearing of the site began on August 6, 1941, with extensive
drainage and malaria control work. Construction began in November
just 17 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The December attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese lent urgency
to the completion of the complex, located in Craven County between
New Bern and Morehead City.
On May 20, 1942, the facility was commissioned Cunningham Field,
named in honor of the Marine Corps' first aviator, LtCol Alfred
A. Cunningham. The completed facility was later renamed Marine
Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, after a local post office situated
among cherry trees.
Cherry Point's primary World War II mission was to train units
and individual Marines for service to the Pacific theater. The
air station also served as a base for anti-submarine operations,
with an Army Air Corps and Navy unit each being responsible for
the sinking of a German U-boat just off the North Carolina coast
during 1943.
The Below Photos are from a booklet, dated September,
1944. The booklet was rescued from a thrift shop in San Bernardino
California.
September 1944, Cherry Point Naval Air Station, North Carolina
Administration
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Assembly and Repair Hangar
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Bakery
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Beechcraft SNB
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Brigadier General L. G. Merrit
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Base Officer's Quarters
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Bowling Lanes
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Chapel
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"On Liberty"
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Colonel P. E. Conradt (September 1944)
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DeHaviland Brewster
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Enlisted Boating
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Hangar 1
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F6F Hellcat
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Base Housing
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Mail Call
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Officer's Club Boating
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Post Exchange
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Women's Marine Reservists, F6F Hellcat
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Women's Marine Reservists, Mess Hall
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Women's Marine Reservists, 1944
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Women's Marine Reservists, Recreation Building
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