Visiting the Lejeune Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville

Looking to pay tribute to our military...past and present? Going to be visiting Jacksonville, North Carolina or passing through the area? If so, I would like to recommend that you visit the Lejeune Memorial Gardens. It's a very peaceful and beautiful place to visit, and they're open year-round.

Lejeune Memorial Gardens
100 Johnson Blvd.
Jacksonville, N.C. 28540

A friend of our's had told us about the Lejeune Memorial Gardens, so when we were passing through the state we decided to stop in for a visit. The gardens are home to the Beirut Memorial, the Onslow Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Montford Point Marine Memorial, and 9/11 Memorial Beam from the World Trade Center. The site includes extra space for future memorials, so it will grow even bigger over time.

Upon arrival you'll want to park in the free parking lot located on Montford Landing Road and then proceed through the garden entrance. Once you get onto the actual grounds you'll find informational placards to help guide your way and to give you information on each of the memorials that you'll see. I recommend wearing comfortable walking shoes, seasonal clothing and take your time as you walk through the gardens. This way you can really take it all in...quite a humbling experience.

The Onslow Vietnam Veterans Memorial is beautiful. It is dedicated to all of the men and women who fought during the Vietnam War. It is the second largest Vietnam Veterans Memorial with the one located in Washington D.C. being the largest. What is really nice about the memorial is that it lists all of the names of our fallen soldiers. You could spend all day reading over those names!

The Beirut Memorial reflects the loss suffered by the marines and the surrounding community on October 23rd, 1983. The memorial honors the 273 Marines who lost their lives when a truck bomb destroyed the barracks in Beirut Lebanon and the subsequent actions. I was 16 years old when that occurred and remember seeing a lot of that tragedy play out on TV.

We live 2 1/2 hours from New York City and we will never forget what happened on September 11th, 2001. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked by terrorists and then we had the disaster in western Pennsylvania when one of the high-jacked jetliners crashed into a field. I think we can all remember where we were when we first heard the news or saw it on TV.

The 9/11 Memorial includes a beam from the Twin Towers, presented to the first troops to those who invaded Iraq from the police and firefighters of New York. The Beam is located by the Beirut Memorial and Entry Wall to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. On the day that we visited you could see handwritten notes, wreaths, floral bouquets, etc. laid out on the beam. It brought back all of those memories and brought tears to my eyes.

My husband and I spent a total of 2 1/2 hours visiting the Lejeune Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville and I'm so glad that we did. It was an educational and humbling experience. It was quite the reminder that freedom is never FREE and that war is a very ugly, but sometimes necessary thing. Visiting the gardens was one of our big highlights from our road trip and I highly recommend that you add the gardens to your bucket list.