by Mike Chamberlin

If you live in the Talega portion of San Clemente, you have a wonderful opportunity to literally look down on history, Camp Pendleton history. It is best viewed from the area of the dog park on Avenida La Pata. Looking down you will see some old brown Quonset huts called Camp Talega, which explains how San Clemente’s community of Talega got its name.

 

Located on the Marine base’s northern border, Camp Talega and its 112 acres of land, has quite a story to tell. It originated as part of the land acquisition of Camp Pendleton in 1942. Also known as 64 Area, it is the only portion of Pendleton that does not belong to San Diego County. It’s all Orange County’s! 

Originally a tent city, Camp Talega used to house the new Marine arrivals as they prepared and trained to fight in the Second World War. In 1958 they replaced the tents with the Quonset huts that still exist today; continuing to house some of the Marines living on base. There’s even a small base exchange that services the troops with snacks and basic toiletries. 

With the required Camp Pendleton Base privileges to enter Camp Talega, one can drive over a tiny bridge built to navigate a creek that is prone to flooding. Once inside this little-known site, visitors will be overtaken by the history of this small base camp, perhaps wondering how many Marines prepared for battle here and how many never made it home. 

 

It was also Camp Talega where the Navajo Marines learned their trade as Code Talkers. These Marines, whose codes were never broken, were part of the success to secure communications during the war in the South Pacific.

On another level, in April 1975, Camp Talega, took part in the largest humanitarian airlift in history, Operation New Arrivals, becoming the first of four Vietnamese resettlement camps established at Camp Pendleton. Between April and October of that year, this encampment served as a vital part of housing, feeding, and processing well over 50,000 Vietnamese refugees.

 This unfamiliar site received notoriety when Hollywood came calling in 1986 and Clint Eastwood brought his film crew to shoot portions of ‘Heartbreak Ridge’ there. A plaque on one of the Quonset huts used in the film that was nominated for an academy award, still remains there. In fact, almost all the Quonset huts have military stenciled names on their sides. Names like, Midway, Saipan, Okinawa, Tripoli, Iwo Jima and John Basilone. His name might be familiar from the Basilone offramp on I-5. He was the first U.S. Marine of enlisted rank to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II. He posthumously became the only enlisted Marine to earn the Navy Cross.

Take a moment to look down upon a small portion of Camp Pendleton and reflect on the history, the lives lost and the work these brave Marines have done and continue to do daily. It can be a very moving experience.