Lejeune Memorial Gardens outside Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune pays respects to those who have shaped United States military history, and another memorial is being added to honor who stand side-by-side with Marines -- the Navy Corpsmen.
On Wednesday, the Corpsmen Memorial will be dedicated in a formal ceremony. Officials say the tribute has been decades in the making.
Since 2008, the Corpsmen Memorial Foundation has been raising money to support the creation of the memorial meant “to honor all those who served alongside the Marine as Fleet Marine Force Corpsmen.” The history of the Corpsman rate dates back more than 100 years, when Congress established the first Hospital Corps on June 17, 1898.
The foundation estimates that about 2,227 Corpsmen have been killed in the line of duty since the inception of the Corpsman rate, and walkways around the statue will be paved with bricks cast with their names.
