(Tribune News Service) — An old landmark from the beginning of Camp Pendleton’s history in the early 1940s will serve as the venue for a base-wide holiday party Dec. 20. Many people pass by the building, but few know its significance.

The California Marine Corp base is now the home of the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum, also known as “The Mech.” The museum houses what is billed as the world’s largest collection of U.S. Marine Corps vehicles from World War II to the Global War on Terrorism. There’s also a cannon and ambulance from World War I.

One of the stars of the show with a Hollywood connection is a Landing Vehicle, Tracked (LTV), an amphibious landing craft used in WWII, that Clint Eastwood drove in his movie, “Flags of Our Fathers.”

But it’s not just the museum that tells Marine Corps history. “The building is an important piece of the base’s history,” said Faye Jonason, Camp Pendleton’s History and Museum Division director.

The unassuming one-story building stands at the bottom of Rattlesnake Canyon next to railroad tracks near Lake O’Neill on Camp Pendleton and once served as a checkpoint for Marines and supplies leaving and returning from missions around the world. Thousands of Marines arrived at this Camp Pendleton terminal to begin their discharge after service in World War II.

Building 2612, now the MECH, was described in the Jan. 14, 1946, issue of The Pendleton Scout as the “camp depot” where a thousand Marines per week were sent by rail to other centers for discharge after being screened through the Redistribution Regiment (at Bldg 2612). “These were veterans of World War II who were anxious to go home and could only do that when their number came up,” said Jonason.

Originally built in 1942, the building was labeled H for hospital and supported the base’s early barracks-style Naval Hospital at Lake O’Neill by housing the wounded along with supplies and equipment transported by railroad.

The year “1944” is carved into the wall on the front of the building. There used to be an old sign in the back marking the railroad stop, called “Joe Fegan,” named after Maj. Gen. Joseph Fegan, Camp Pendleton’s first commanding general, when the base was activated in 1942. That sign is now inside the museum.

The Mechanized Museum opened inside the building in September 2002, spearheaded by now retired Master Gunnery Sgt. James King, who worked with volunteers restoring the old military vehicles, and Jonason. The History-Museum Branch, under Jonason, worked to acquire the space and designed the exhibits for the museum, which was dedicated the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum as part of the 60th anniversary of the base’s dedication in 1942.

The 22,000-square-foot museum contains more than 120 historical artifacts ranging from transport and battle vehicles to artillery. Most of the items in the exhibit are in working order, thanks to the efforts of King, cofounder of the museum, and his crew of volunteers, known as “Dirty Docents” because of all the grease and oil they got on themselves while working on the vehicles to get them running.

Signs next to the displays explain the use of the vehicles and their significance in Marine Corps history.

The exhibit includes vintage artifacts such as a Chenowith Light Strike Vehicle, Sherman tank, a 1943 Willeys MB Jeep from World War II and the M48A1 Main Battle Tank Dozer along with a replica Browning heavy machine gun. The 30-caliber Browning was used by Marine Corps hero and Medal of Honor recipient Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone at Guadalcanal during WWII.

In the WWII section of the museum, a tracked M29 Weasel made by Studebaker on loan from the Camp Pendleton Historical Society is spotlighted. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions that had trained on Camp Pendleton received the non-amphibious version of M29 Weasels in November 1944 and put them to successful use on Iwo Jima where the volcanic soil caused tanks to be mired and have broken tracks. “These vehicles could carry a half-ton load through the mud and sand and traveled over ground that wheeled vehicles could not,” Jonason said.

The exhibit includes a DUKW (pronounced “Duck”) amphibious landing craft built from 1943-1945, which is a modification of the 2.5 ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military in World War II. It primarily brought supplies from ship to shore and transported wounded combatants to hospital ships.

“It’s an interesting collection inside an historical building that many people don’t know about,” Jonason said. “This event will give people a chance to look inside and see what’s here.”

The Night at the Mechanized Museum free open house holiday event is from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Dec. 20 at the Mech, Bldg. 2612 Vandegrift Boulevard. Santa is slated to make a grand entrance by WW II Jeep at 6 p.m. The 1st Marine Division Jazz Combo will perform and there will be festive drinks and snacks. Base access credentials are required.

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