“Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it,”
(George Santayana)
The war on terror did not start on Sept. 11, it started on Oct. 23, 1983 with the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
President Ronald Reagan dispatched 2,400 Marines, from Camp Lejeune, to Lebanon in September 1982 in support of a four-nation international peacekeeping force. French, Italian, British and American forces were deployed troops to Lebanon following the civil war and the Israeli invasion months earlier.
By late summer, Marines were being targeted by sniper and mortar fire. On Aug. 30, the Marine peacekeepers suffered their first fatalities, when 2nd Lt. Donald G. Losey and Staff Sgt. Alexander M. Ortega died after an enemy rocket struck the supply tent they were in.
Because of the increase in hostile fire, the Marines moved into the relative safety of the four-story cinder-block building. Around 6:20 am, a yellow Mercedes-Benz truck drove to Beirut International Airport, turned onto an access road leading to the Marines’ compound and circled a parking lot, then accelerated and crashed through a barbed wire fence around the parking lot, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through a gate and barreled into the lobby of the Marine headquarters. The truck had been substituted for a hijacked water delivery truck. The force of the explosion collapsed the four-story cinder-block building into rubble, crushing many inside. It is said to have been the largest non-nuclear blast ever (deliberately) detonated on the face of the earth. “The force of the explosion, “initially lifted the entire four-story structure, shearing the bases of the concrete support columns, each measuring fifteen feet in circumference and reinforced by numerous one and three quarter inch steel rods. The airborne building then fell in upon itself. A massive shock wave and ball of flaming gas was hurled in all directions.”
Marines on guard duty were prohibited from having their weapons in a ready-to-fire condition, due to the rules of engagement they were placed under. A Marine sentry who caught a glimpse of the driver recalls an eerie smile on the bomber’s face. The terrorist attack killed 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members, who were stationed there.
My question is, how many of the young people born after 1983 even have heard about, know about or even care about the bombing? I’ll bet if you asked a random sample of younger people, not one of them would even know what you were talking about, unless they happened to be in the military, or were related to military personnel.
I have a bad feeling that we are doomed to repeat our history.
For a list of the Fallen, go to The White House Commission on Remembrance .
RIP Marines, Sailors and Soldiers.
