Naval Training Center Great Lakes — located in North Chicago along Lake Michigan — has operated continuously since 1911 as the Navy’s principal recruit training command for the Midwest and East Coast. The installation trained tens of thousands of sailors annually during World War II and throughout the Cold War era. Trust fund and litigation records document multiple claimants with asbestos-related illness listing Great Lakes Naval Training Center as a service site, making this one of the better-documented shore installations in the asbestos claims record.

Asbestos Exposure Documentation

Asbestos trust fund records from multiple bankruptcy proceedings document individual claimants listing Great Lakes Naval Training Center — at North Chicago, Illinois — as a duty station, with service dates including the mid-1950s and mid-1960s. Diagnoses documented in these records include mesothelioma, reflecting the latency period typical of asbestos-related malignancy following exposure during training service.

One trust record reflects service at Great Lakes Naval Training Center from October to December 1966 in basic training capacity; another documents service in the April–May 1955 period. These records establish both the documented exposure period and the occupational context — recruits and training staff present in the installation’s buildings and facilities.

Shore Facility Asbestos Sources

Great Lakes Naval Training Center’s shore infrastructure was developed in multiple construction phases beginning in World War I and expanding substantially during World War II. Buildings and systems constructed across these periods used asbestos-containing materials standard in Navy construction:

  • Barracks and recruit housing built in the 1940s and 1950s incorporated asbestos floor tile, ceiling tile, and pipe insulation
  • Steam heating systems serving the large recruit training complex were insulated with asbestos block insulation, pipe lagging, and asbestos-containing fittings
  • Mess halls, classroom buildings, and administrative facilities used the same asbestos-containing construction materials throughout the postwar expansion
  • Mechanical maintenance shops supporting the installation used asbestos gaskets and packing in boiler and steam system maintenance

Recruits and Shore Duty Personnel

Recruits who passed through basic training at Great Lakes before the early 1980s were present in asbestos-containing facilities during their training period. Shore duty personnel — company commanders, instructors, administrative ratings, and maintenance workers permanently assigned to NTC Great Lakes commands — experienced longer-duration exposure in the same facilities.

VA Claims for Great Lakes Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at shore installations. The documented presence of Great Lakes Naval Training Center in asbestos trust fund claim records supports the evidentiary record for veterans who trained or served there. DD-214 records listing Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Great Lakes IL, or Recruit Training Command Great Lakes establish the assignment for VA purposes.