US Marine Corps Recruit Depot - Yearbook (Parris Island, SC)

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served as the site of the cap1tal of Spanish Florida. In 1577 the settlers were driven out by Indians. They returned the following year and rebuilt their homes but in 1586 because of English raids they abandoned Santa Elena and moved to St. In 1663 nearly 100 years after the Spanish had left William Hilton came to Port Royal and visited the remains of the Spanish settlement on Parris Island. Hilton s glowing reports of the area resulted in the English settlement of South Carolina. Parris Island was owned by a number of early colonialists including Alexander Parris the treasurer of South Carolina who purchased the island in 1715. The island s name dates back to him and his daughter and son-1n-law were the first English settlers of Parrls Island. Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War in Port Royal region was captured by a Federal expedition. Though Parris Island was not actively occupied large military installations were established on Hilton Head and Bay Point Islands and at Beaufort. Among the units serving in the area was a battalion of United States Marines who were stationed on Bay Point Island. Augustine. November, 1861, Parris Island along with the entire Recruit Training Regiment Headquarters ,or N .v . Q. Xxx , Q N., . -' wv e - Www MA ,w.f , .. . V War Memorial Building fwithin a museum! 1 -al- Recruit Receiving .yv Q seg Visitors Center Named for former Senator Paul Douglas

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-1, ,,,, Y f 3 525,34 A x ug 31 1 --Mn-1. ,. ,wwf if , . K Z A! Y k W V NJ xl' in .1 'mmbwfmmi ,A-f Iwo Jima Monument , .- ,L , g A M111 if ' :wL..J-vw.12flWrr vii wsfwfilfi ' ' ,k,a,jinu'1Iv'ff:t1 ' ' 1 T -.:L,,..H', HISTCRY UF Parris Island Parris Island, located in Port Royal Sound, has a long and colorful history. Although the first Marines did not arrive on the island until June, 1891, the story of its occupancy by Europeans reaches back more than three centuries. The first to come to the area were Spanish explorers, who arrived in the harbor in 1520. They named the area Santa Elena and claimed it for the King of Spain. In 1562, a French expedition of Huguenots Cprotestantsl arrived in Port Royal. Under the command of Jean Ribaut, the French explored the harbor, landed on Parris Island, and somewhere in the region, established a small outpost called Charlesfort. Ribaut returned to France, with plans of expanding his foothold at Port Royal, however, before he could return the garrison of Charlesfort mutinied and returned to France. VVhen word of the French incursions reached Spanish authorities, an expedition was out-fitted under Pedro Menendez to destroy the French and place colonies along the southeast coast. Menendez established St. Augustine, defeated French expeditions, and in 1566, he came to Parris Island where he built his capital city of Santa Elena. For the next ten years, Parris Island i 'YQ- Depot Headquarters

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MARINES LAND AT PARRIS ISLAND After the war, the United States kept a naval presence in the sound, and then in 1885 construction began on Parris Island for a permanent Navy yard. The first Marine activity was established on Parris Island on June 26, 1891, when First Sergeant Richard Donovan, USMC, arrived with a small detachment for duty at the Naval station. The Marines were highly commended for service in preserving life and property during the hurricane and tidal wave that swept over the island in 1893. By 1903, the Naval Station on Parris Island was considered to be too small, and operations were eventually shifted to Charleston, S. C. While the navy was closing its activities, the Marines, in 1909, opened an officers school, and in 191 1 two recruit companies came to the island for training, however before the year was out the schools were transferred and the island was converted into a Naval disciplinary barracks. On November 1, 1915, the area was again turned over to the Marine Corps, and recruit training reestablished. Parris Island has since become famous as a training base of U. S. Marines. During World War I, some 41,000 recruits were trained here. Prior to 1929, all transportation to and from the island was by small boats operating between the Post Docks and Port Royal, South Carolina. In 1929, the water era came to an end with the completion of the Horse Island bridge and causeway. PARRIS ISLAND AT WARTIME LEVELS In August, 1940, recruit training was first organized on a battalion basis. With the coming of World War II, a flood of recruits, as well as new permanent personnel to train them arrived aboard the island. The Base was enlarged to handle 13 recruit battalions, and, between 1941 and 1945, almost 205,000 recruits were trained at Parris Island. At the time of the Japanese surrender, there were more than 20,000 fledgling Marines in training at Parris Island. At the end of the war, the island was reduced to a population low by the rapid demobilization. Prior to the outbreak of the crisis in Korea, there were only two recruit battalions in training. At the start of the Korean Campaign, Parris Is1and's recruit population was barely 2,350. Iron Mike Monument WWI