Existing comment:
Infrastructure and Facilities:
The majority of the 577 acres of Camp Matthews was devoted to rifle and pistol training. There were fifteen different ranges that trained Marines in different aspects of rifle shooting. Each range was equipped with firing shelters, weather shelters, storage sheds, and washrooms. Just to give an example, Range A was 600 yards in length when completed in 1933. However, it was later expanded to 1,000 yards with 25 different targets to complete. Firing points were spread out at the 200, 300, 500, 600, and 1,000 yard marks. At its height, this range ran down the center of the Camp, covering almost its entire length. During training, Marines received motivation from sixty-foot long signs at the Camp Matthews entrance that read, "EVERY HIT COUNTS" and "What YOU learn HERE pays off in DEAD JAPS over there!"
In addition, Camp Matthews contained seven barracks, six of which were reserved for administrative personnel. They housed up to 72 people in 36 double-decked bunks. The Marines in training were housed in either tents or Quonset huts. Each Quonset hut contained 5,760 square feet of floor space and held 36 double-decked bunks. In total, around 2,300 marines were housed in the Quonset huts.
Camp Matthews also provided housing for female Marines. A Women's Reserve Building was equipped with 32 single bunks, a lounge, a post exchange, a sick bay with four bunks, laundry facilities, and three rooms for non-commissioned officers. Four mess halls existed at Camp Matthews where all of the Marines and administrators ate their meals. The mess halls combined could accommodate 4,680 people per sitting. According to "The UCSD Times," Lee Harvey Oswald is known to have eaten in the mess halls back in 1954. |