Beirut Memorial Ceremony to honor fallen Marines and Sailors

[thedrifter]

The first duty is to remember
Beirut Memorial Ceremony to honor fallen Marines and Sailors

Sharon M. Allen
Special to The Globe

The 19th anniversary of the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Beirut Memorial here.
People from all over the country gather each year at the Beirut Memorial to remember the 241 Marines and Sailors of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, who lost their lives in that attack.

At 6:22 a.m. Lebanese time, Sunday, Oct. 23, 1983, a five-ton Mercedes truck charged across a parking lot separating the Beirut airport terminal from the temporary U.S. Marine headquarters. After crashing through barbed wire fences and gates, the driver avoided bullets from a sentry?s rifle and drove straight into the building where some 300 Marines slept.

It only took seconds to turn the four-story building into a heap of rubble, where hundreds were crushed under the weight of the broken building. Most of the victims were from Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station. They were members of the Jacksonville community - known as fathers, coaches, church members, Marines, Sailors and heroes.

According to the Beirut Memorial web site, during his speech following the bombing, President Ronald Reagan told a story of something that had happened to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Paul X. Kelley. While visiting injured Marines in a hospital, Kelley met a young wounded Leatherneck who could not see very well, so he reached up to touch the Commandants? four stars to confirm his identity. The Marine signaled for some paper and on it he wrote ?Semper Fi.?

President Reagan stated to the nation in his speech that ?Marines give willingly of themselves so that a nearly defenseless people in a region of great strategic importance to the free world will have a chance someday to live lives free of murder and mayhem and terrorism.

?I think that young Marine and all of his comrades have given every one of us something to live up to. We cannot and will not dishonor them now and the sacrifices they?ve made by failing to remain as faithful to the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace as they have been.?

When President Reagan spoke those words, he did not realize that 18 years later, the U.S. would once again face acts of terrorism and be called upon to sacrifice more Americans for the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace.

Also in his speech, President Reagan spoke of Dr. Kenneth Morrison, the father of a Marine in Lebanon. Morrison told Reagan, ?In a world where we speak of human rights, there is a sad lack of acceptance of responsibility. My son has chosen the acceptance of responsibility for the privilege of living in this country. Certainly in this country one does not inherently have rights unless the responsibility for those rights is accepted.?

Reagan also quoted Sam Rayburn who once said that freedom is not something a nation can work for once and win forever. He said it?s like an insurance policy; its premiums must be kept up to date. In order to keep it, we have to keep working for it and sacrificing for it just as long as we live. If we do not, our children may not know the pleasure of working to keep it, for it may not be theirs to keep.

Although there are those in the world who do not approve of American way of life and wish to take it away, the U.S. is a free land. Millions have died to give Americans that right.

In addition to the commemorative events at the memorial, there will be a Beirut Memorial 10K run held October 20 at 8:00 a.m. at the Camp Johnson Gymnasium. For more information, call 451-1799.



Two hundred and forty-four Bradford pear trees are planted along Lejeune to represent each of the lives lost in the Beirut bombing and the lives of the Marine pilots killed in Grenada. The Beirut Memorial is located in a hilly dogwood and oak forest off N.C. 24 (Lejeune Boulevard) at the entrance to Camp Johnson. Each year, a memorial service is held on Oct. 23 to honor those who gave their lives.


Sempers,

Roger