Semper Fi ! Remembering the Beirut Bombing

Blackfive ^ | 10/23/05 | vanity

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. BTTT!

[armydawg1]

God Bless them all. Rest in peace American heroes.

[MEG33]

Amen

[Beth528]

In the early morning hours of 23 October 1983, a truck loaded with explosives crashed through the security perimeter of the United States Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. In the explosion that followed, 241 U.S. Military personnel were killed and 80 seriously wounded.These young people, on a mission of peace in a land stricken by violence, were killed as they slept.
Twenty-one (21) of the young American victims of this cowardly act were returned to the United States and were buried near one another in Section 59 of Arlington National Cemetery. Near their gravesites is planted a Cedar of Lebanon tree which commemorates their sacrifice.

They are
remembered here in grateful appreciation of their sacrifice on behalf of freedom.

Nicholas Baker, Corporal, United States Marine Corps - 3 July 1962
Alvin Bemer, Sergeant, United States Maine Corps - 10 March 1954
David L. Daugherty, Corporal, United States Marine Corps - 28 October 1959
Roy L. Edwards, Sergeant, United States Marine Corps - 5 November 1941
Robert B. Greaser, Sergeant, United States Marine Corps - 29 July 1960
David M. Green, Corporal, United States Marine Corps - 16 July 1963
Maurice E. Hukill, First Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps - 26 November 1957
James Chandonnet Knipple, Corporal, United States Marine Corps- 9 November 1962
John W. Macroglou, Major, United States Marine Corps - 23 August 1949
David J. Nairn, First Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps - 17 June 1960
Thomas S. Perron, Corporal, United States Marine Corps - 5 October 1964
John Arthur Phillips, Jr., Sergeant, United States Marine Corps - 22 April 1960
Clyde Wayne Plymel, First Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps 8 December 1958
Patrick K. Prindeville, Sergeant, United States Marine Corps - 31 March 1960
Diomedes J. Quirante, HM-3, United States Navy - 6 September 1958
Charles J. Schnorf, First Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps - 28 July 1959
Thomas A. Shipp, Corporal, United States Marine Corps - 4 September 1955
Horace R. Stephens, Jr., Private First Class, United States Marine Corps - 23 July 1963
Eric Glenn Washington, Corporal, United States Marine Corps - 12 May 1955
Donald E. Woollett, First Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps - 23 February 1958
David Edward Worley, HM-3, United States Navy - 26 January 1958

[Recon Dad]

I've been to this memorial outside Camp Lejeune and it is very moving. My only question was where was the response. We always blame Clinton for not responding, where was the response?

[MEG33]

Sshhhh..Not allowed to discuss.

[RaceBannon]

The response was stifled because of the Vietnam syndrome that Kerry, Clinton, and Fonda created

[Atlantic Friend]

I'll remember this heinous attack all the better since that very same day a kamikaze truck exploded in the French paratroopers' compund in Beirut, killing 57.

[Buffettfan]

God bless these courageous Marines and and god bless the Corps! Semper Fi'

[BluH2o]

I served with 'A' Company, 1st Battalion 8th Marines (A-1-8) back in the mid-60's. This unit, and others in the 1st Battalion took the brunt of the casualties in the Beirut airport bombing. In fact, in my day, Beirut was considered one of the best liberty ports in the Med ... made two 6 month Med cruises but didn't pull liberty in Beirut. The contrast between the Beirut of that era and the Beirut of 1983 were remarkable indeed.

[hoosierham]

And don't talk about military policy that used guard detail as a form of punishment ,the mindset that regards guard detail as boring(which it can be),and not important . Or the stupidity of minimally armed,sometimes without ammo riflemen guarding anything. Just as civilian guards are usually unarmed,even today,at nearly all of the thousands of important factories and other potential targets.

Those in authority don't want to expend resources ,including money and training, on mere guards.

Americans also have trouble realizing that there are people who want to kill us so badly they are willing to die in the attempt. Most guard procedures are a deterrent to the would-be attacker who wishes to strike and escape,but are useless against the suicide attacker. Him you must kill quickly and at a distance.

[lorris]

I knew a kid from my hometown that survived that bombing. His left lower leg was disfigured and we worked in the gym together to get him some strength and range of motion back.

He talked about the explosion a little bit to me. I'll never forget the look in his eyes as he tried to put into words some of the things he felt when it happened.

Our heroes. God bless them all.

[genefromjersey]

I'm sorry to bring this up, as I know there are many Reagan admirers on this site-but 22 years later,I still con't figure out what convoluted foreign policy idea led us to commit troops to this "peacekeeping" enterprise.

I know the Syrians were Soviet "clients" at the time, and Israel was an ally;but Israel was preparing to pull out -at our insistence,after chasing the PLO into Lebanon.

Syria was playing double games: backing various factions. Iran was backing the Hezbollah bombers (the same people who later bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia).

France was (covertly) our ally at the time-though they always said otherwise.

Does anyone know why we went into Lebanon ?

[texianyankee]

God bless them!

[rlmorel]

The response was late, but it came 321 days later via the US Navy.

Protested, as usual, loudly and longly by the same SOB's who are undercutting us today, the Democrats. In a comment at the time, directed at House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (D, Mass), Reagan had said, "He may be ready to surrender, but I'm not."

Afterwards, House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (D, Mass.) Feb. 8 declared that Reagan's actions were "absolutely not" within the war powers authorized in a compromise congressional resolution in October 1983...

It took from February 1983 to October 1983 to even get a resolution passed by a divided house, and they did it only to provide themselves cover, not to allow the president to really do anything. When he did, they screamed in protest. How is this any different from what we see today?

[rlmorel]

Some history:

Lebanon becam independent in 1943, after 23 years of French rule under a League of Nations mandate, political power was largely divided between Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims. This demographic equilibrium was jeopardized by the influx of Palestinian refugees following the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967 and Jordan's 1971 crackdown on the P.L.O. The resulting destabilization led to Lebanon's 1976-76 civil war, to the presence of Syrian forces, and to the P.L.O.'s "state within a state."

On several occasions, Israel moved into southern Lebanon in response to sporadic Palestinian shelling of settlements in northern Israel.

A U.S.-negotiated ceasefire in 1981 brought these attacks to a halt, but in June 1982 Israel used them...as a pretext to invade Lebanon. Instead of merely clearing the border area, as Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his Defense Minister Ariel Sharon had promised, the army charged ahead to Beirut. The real aims of Israel's Peace for Galilee campaign: to destroy the P.L.O., humiliate the Syrians and reinforce Lebanon's Christian-dominated government.

The U.S. finally brokered an end to Israel's 40-day siege of Beirut and effected a ceasefire to facilitate the forced evacuation from Lebanon of some 12,000 P.L.O. commandos. It then offered to contribute Marines to a multinational peacekeeping force.

We put Marines on the ground to prevent destabilzation during the withdrawal, and removed them when it was complete, as promised.

A traumatic series of events followed: President-elect Bashir Gemayel was assassinated, Israeli forces occupied Moslem West Beirut, and vengeful Christian militiamen murdered some 700 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila camps.

The U.S. brought the Marines back to help restore order. The rest is history.

[Garvin]

U.S. Marine Corps Hymn
(Marine's Hymn)

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the Shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
of United States Marine.

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in ev'ry clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;
You will find us always on the job--
The United States Marines.

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.


http://www.instantknowledgenews.com/marine.htm

[SandRat]

You left out two other key bung-sucking, whiskey swilling, players; Ted Kennedy and Ramsey Clark.

[Lancey Howard]

Unfortunately, I remember the barracks bombing like it was yesterday. I was in the Corps at the time and I remember going through the list of names to see who from my ITS (Geiger, June 1980) was killed. It was horrible.