The U.S.Marines Memorial was built in 1992 for the 50th Anniversary of the US Armed Forces encampment in New Zealand during World War II. It now includes a restored Marines hut with an exhibition inside it, the Sailors Memorial commemorating ten US sailors who drowned off Whareroa Beach in 1943, and an exhibition explaining the joint Kiwi US effort - building the three camp sites.
Over 500 visitors, relatives and friends turned out to the opening of the Memorial and the laying of a ceremonial chrome-plated brass plaque on June 27, 1992. The event was presided over by the Mayor of Kāpiti, Ivor Trask and the Chair of the Regional Council, Stuart Macaskill. The U.S. Ambassador, Della Newman, was also in attendance.
The Memorial was a joint project between the Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Kāpiti Coast District Council. It was built by Paekākāriki contractor John Mills with assistance from a Taskforce Green team coordinated by Graham Laws. The interpretation displays were developed by landscape architect, Rob Pryor.
Photographs of the event show a bleak park site, with the hut facades in sharp relief against the surrounding hills and bare paddocks – a stark reminder of the look and feel of the Camp Russell back in the day. The pouhutukawa trees now framing the site were planted on the day.
The site was up-graded for the 70th Anniversary of the encampment in 2012, when the Sailors’ Memorial was also installed. Over the past 50 years the Marines Wetland has been established and thousands of trees plants on land surrounding the site.