1960s Camp Lejeune Floating Bridge Construction and Training

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina

Cover of the Floating Bridge, M4T6, manual [from Camp Lejeune Engineer School Floating Bridge Booklet, VW 34, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

During the mid-1960s as the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam conflict was growing into a war, the U.S. Marine Corps “ramped” up its instruction and development of training protocols in floating bridge engineering and construction training.

MilColl_VW_15_S3: View of a group of unidentified U.S. Marines in a bridge company working to build a bridge over a river, pictured standing on portions of the unfinished bridge. An unknown type of float is seen in the river with a Marine standing on it. The men were working as part of a Marine Corps field problem in May 1965 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during the Vietnam War [circa May 1965].

By 1965, Marine engineers were practicing construction of floating and temporary bridges around the base at Camp Lejeune, NC, during the early years of the Vietnam War just prior to the 1966 federal draft. As a part of this, a training manual entitled Floating Bridge, M4T6, from the Marine Corps Engineer School at Camp Lejeune, NC. But, before we get to this manual, some background on the Marine Corps Engineer School.

MilColl_VW_15_S6: Side view from the riverbank looking on a partially-completed bridge crossing a river, being constructed by a group of unidentified U.S. Marines in a bridge company. The men were working as part of a Marine Corps field problem in May 1965 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during the Vietnam War [circa May 1965].

MilColl_VW_15_S13: View of a U.S. Marine Corps tank driving from the shore onto a floating bridge for transport by a group of unidentified U.S. Marines in a bridge company. The bridge company was working as part of a Marine Corps field problem in May 1965 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during the Vietnam War [circa May 1965].

MilColl_VW_15_S12: View of a group of unidentified U.S. Marines in a bridge company, transporting military vehicles on a floating bridge supported by inflatable rafts, driven along by a Marine Corps boat on an unidentified body of water. The men were working as part of a Marine Corps field problem in May 1965 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during the Vietnam War [circa May 1965].

U.S. Marine Corps Engineer School

The first U.S. Marine Corps Engineer School was activated at the Marine Corps headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, as part of the Training Center on May 8, 1941, just before the United States entered World War II. The school offered an initial four-course curriculum, consisting of classes in Refrigeration, Water Distillation and Purification, Demolition, and Camouflaging.

In August 1942, the Engineer School moved to the newly organized training center for the Fleet Marine Force at what was then known officially as the Marine Barracks at New River, NC. The following courses were added to the original curriculum: Basic Surveying, Bridging, Drafting, Aerial Photographic Interpretation, Field Electrician, Map Reproduction and Photography (retitled Photo-Lithography), Shop, Engineer Equipment, Water Supply, and Well Drilling. The Engineer School was detached from the Marine Barracks, and reorganized into the Engineer Battalion of the Training Center at the re-designated Camp Lejeune, NC, on December 31, 1942. The first officer’s engineering course offered at the Engineer School began on October 5, 1943. A specialist training regiment was organized on July 14, 1944, which included the Engineer Battalion. The Engineer School Battalion continued to be part of the regiment until July 1946.

WWII 222.F1.1: Photograph of the dirt road leading past the barracks for the U.S. Marine Corps Engineer School at Camp Lejeune, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. The barracks are seen in the background, with a sign reading “Engineer School” in the foreground. An unidentified Marine is seen standing on the road. Photograph taken by or collected by Mell H. Embler of High Point, NC, while he was stationed at Camp Lejeune training as an engineer and mechanic during the war [circa 1942–1943] [From Mell H. Embler Photographs, WWII 222, World War II Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

On July 31, 1947, the Engineer School Battalion was disbanded. The Camp Lejeune Engineer School was once again activated on January 1, 1949. It was now designated as Engineer School Company, Headquarters and Service Battalion, Marine Barracks at Camp Lejeune, NC. Between January 1949 and November 1950, the Engineer School Company was re-designated as Engineer School Battalion, and relocated to its present base of operations at Courthouse Bay at Camp Lejeune, NC. Still, there was no set name for the Marine’s engineer school, as it changed depending on which wars and military actions the United States was involved.

The school received a formal name in April 1952, when the school was renamed as The Marine Corps Engineer School at Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, NC. It continued to operate with the same name throughout the Vietnam War era. During November 1976, the Marine Corps Engineer School began a complete reorganization. The Student Command was deactivated. Personnel from the command were distributed to provide appropriate manning levels for four separate companies: Headquarters and Service Company, Engineer Equipment Instruction Company, Utilities Instruction Company, and Combat Engineer Instruction Company. The reorganization was completed and full operation began on January 3, 1977.

Floating Bridge, M4T6 Manual

The training manual entitled Floating Bridge, M4T6, was produced for instructing Marine Corps engineering students on the erection and operational capabilities of the M4T6 floating bridge and the aluminum floating footbridge. The manual features student work sheets with partially filled out answers by an unidentified Marine, as well as containing several pages of handwritten engineering notes in the back cover of the manual. This manual covers the engineering aspects of what was the predominate style of portable bridge used by the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.

Inside introduction page of the Floating Bridge, M4T6, manual [from Camp Lejeune Engineer School Floating Bridge Booklet, VW 34, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

Figure 1–19 from the training manual Floating Bridge, M4T6, manual, showing an assembled floating raft/bridge support constructed [from Camp Lejeune Engineer School Floating Bridge Booklet, VW 34, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

Figure 2–3 from the training manual Floating Bridge, M4T6, manual, showing the site layout for the construction of the floating bridge by rafts [from Camp Lejeune Engineer School Floating Bridge Booklet, VW 34, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

The floating bridges’ construction was practiced at Camp Lejeune as part of Marine engineering Bridge Company Field Problems, where the bridges were erected crossing portions of the New River at Camp Lejeune, or tributaries of that river for smaller bridges.

MilColl_VW_15_S7: View taken from a boat looking on a group of unidentified U.S. Marines in a bridge company on a shoreline, working to put parts of a floating bridge together on pontoons leading from the shore out into the water of an unidentified body of water. The Marines are pictured discussing the construction of the bridge. The men were working as part of a Marine Corps field problem in May 1965 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during the Vietnam War [circa May 1965].

You can view a set of color slides from an unidentified U.S. Marine who served at Camp Lejeune, N.C., from 1963 to 1966, showing a Marine Corps bridge company training in the construction of floating and temporary bridges around the base at Camp Lejeune, during the early years of the Vietnam. The slides are part of Camp Lejeune Bridge Company Slides collection (VW 15) in the Vietnam War Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina. The slides are available for viewing online on the State Archives’ Flickr page here.

Resources

1. Camp Lejeune Bridge Company Slides, VW 15, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
2. Camp Lejeune Engineer School Floating Bridge Booklet, VW 34, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
3. Mell H. Embler Photographs, WWII 222, World War II Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
4. The information for Marine Corps Engineer School history written here was taken directly, with some reformatting from the article “Marine Corps Engineer School,” US Marine Corps website, viewed at https://www.trngcmd.marines.mil/Units/South-Atlantic/MCES/MCES-History/.