Camp Lejeune incident
The Camp Lejeune incident refers to the outbreak of hostilities between black and white enlisted Marines at an NCO Club near the United States Marine Corps's Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, on the evening of July 20, 1969. It left a total of 15 Marines injured, and one, Corporal Edward E. Blankston, dead. It was subsequently investigated by the military and led to widespread changes in military race relations and policy.
Circumstances
After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who had opposed the Vietnam War and the use of Black people in the conflict, a series of race riots swept dozens of American cities and racial tensions were heightened throughout American society.In 1969, the U.S. troop presence in Vietnam reached its peak of 549,000, and Black people often made up a disproportionate 25% or more of combat units in Vietnam, while constituting only 12% of the military. 20% of black males were combat soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, while the percentage of Whites in combat roles was lower.
Camp Lejeune's racial make up in 1969 was 14% black. However, the number in certain combat infantry battalions was over 25%. Most Black Marines came from poor, rural communities from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Most white Marines were recruited from similarly underprivileged and rural communities from Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Missouri, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, and Texas.