Devildogg4ever
10-20-03, 05:31 AM
October 20,2003
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
After almost 20 years and despite more than 20,000 signatures in hand, the U.S Postal Service is still denying requests for a stamp honoring troops killed in the 1983 terrorist bombing in Beirut.
And veterans are still asking why. After all, they say, D-Day and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are remembered with military stamps, along with 15 generals, more than 45 World War II battles, more than 10 aircraft and four stamps for the Vietnam War.
The lack of what he considers a simple remembrance is a mystery to retired Staff Sgt. Chuck Hall, 47, of Richlands. Hall, a Beirut survivor from 1st Platoon Guide with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, has worked overtime to see that the 241 service members - most from Camp Lejeune - killed in the Beirut peacekeeping mission are honored.
"I feel that the administration was and still is embarrassed about Beirut, that's why every time they get our request they just drop the ball on it," Hall said referring to the limited rules of engagement the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit faced in Beirut. They could barely defend themselves and weren't allowed to fortify their positions because it might give the perception that they were defenders rather than peacekeepers.
For more than 10 years Hall and his comrades have navigated U.S. Postal Service channels without success.
The request requires the approval of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, 12 to 15 volunteer members on a board appointed by Postmaster General John Potter who is supposed to review background on why a stamp is recommended.
But the group meets in secret and isn't required to state why a stamp is or is not approved.
"They're a volunteer group and they don't want to contacted," said Liz Altobell who prepares information for the stamp committee's quarterly meetings. "They are protected by all sorts of privacy rules. They don't give explanations and their deliberations are protected from the Freedom of Information Act."
But, she added, the scope of the Beirut tragedy might be a reason a stamp hasn't been approved.
"A lot of people don't want to focus on a tragedy and the people who do get the stamps never give up," Altobell said.
But Beirut veterans point out that the Fallen Heroes stamp to commemorate the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 was approved before the first anniversary and the Desert Storm stamp was OK'd before the troops returned from the Persian Gulf.
Most Beirut veterans thought that the 20th anniversary of the barracks attack this year would be the time a stamp would be issued.
Last year Hall traveled to Washington, D.C. and met with U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., who put congressional action in motion to support the move for a stamp. It remains in a congressional committee, said Lanier Swann, a Jones spokeswoman.
"They haven't given it serious consideration and right now it's at a standstill in committee," Hall said.
In the short term, postal officials have arranged for a special cancellation at Jacksonville post offices Thursday, the anniversary of the bombing. It's something any local post office can do to acknowledge community events such as festivals.
"There will be a pictorial cancellation and a special cache envelope with pictures of the memorial that people can purchase." said USPS spokesman Bill Brown.
"It's a nice gesture, but it falls short," Hall said. "It's a slap in the face of our comrades."
Hall said there has been talk about a blanket stamp to cover all terrorist victims because postal officials didn't want to single out any one event.
But that infuriates Beirut veterans who say they have never been given the respect they deserve.
"Beirut is such an embarrassment to this country," said Beirut survivor Master Sgt. John Wayne Nash, 39, of Pontiac, Mich. assigned to 2nd Force Service Support Group. "We were there with a multinational peacekeeping force with the Italians, British and French and came back as victims. Although we served and Marines died for it we never got those medals. We lost 241 people that morning and there are 276 names on that wall. They come from all over the nation - every race, every creed, every color and every religion.
"Obviously it didn't mean enough because there was no presidential ribbon and no multinational peacekeeping and observers' medal," Nash said. "It says peacekeepers on the wall and it's actually one of the lowest medals. It would mean a lot to the families because it represents what they went there to do, what their mission was, what we support daily, why they died and how they should be remembered."
Family members like Tiffany Van Buren, 20, of Jacksonville, are also frustrated. Her father Cpl. Stephen Eugene Spencer, 23, a cook with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment was killed in the Oct. 23 terrorist blast.
"It's pretty ridiculous that we can't put out a stamp for the memory of everyone who was killed over there with my dad," Van Buren said. "I just don't want anyone to forget and telling people about it helps. I don't want my dad to die in vain because it wasn't an accident."
Contact the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee at USPS Headquarters, 475 L'Enfante Plaza SW, Washington, D.C. 20260
Beirut Stamp Petition click here!
http://www.petitiononline.com/10231983/petition.html
http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=Details.cfm&StoryID=17044&Section=News
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
After almost 20 years and despite more than 20,000 signatures in hand, the U.S Postal Service is still denying requests for a stamp honoring troops killed in the 1983 terrorist bombing in Beirut.
And veterans are still asking why. After all, they say, D-Day and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are remembered with military stamps, along with 15 generals, more than 45 World War II battles, more than 10 aircraft and four stamps for the Vietnam War.
The lack of what he considers a simple remembrance is a mystery to retired Staff Sgt. Chuck Hall, 47, of Richlands. Hall, a Beirut survivor from 1st Platoon Guide with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, has worked overtime to see that the 241 service members - most from Camp Lejeune - killed in the Beirut peacekeeping mission are honored.
"I feel that the administration was and still is embarrassed about Beirut, that's why every time they get our request they just drop the ball on it," Hall said referring to the limited rules of engagement the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit faced in Beirut. They could barely defend themselves and weren't allowed to fortify their positions because it might give the perception that they were defenders rather than peacekeepers.
For more than 10 years Hall and his comrades have navigated U.S. Postal Service channels without success.
The request requires the approval of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, 12 to 15 volunteer members on a board appointed by Postmaster General John Potter who is supposed to review background on why a stamp is recommended.
But the group meets in secret and isn't required to state why a stamp is or is not approved.
"They're a volunteer group and they don't want to contacted," said Liz Altobell who prepares information for the stamp committee's quarterly meetings. "They are protected by all sorts of privacy rules. They don't give explanations and their deliberations are protected from the Freedom of Information Act."
But, she added, the scope of the Beirut tragedy might be a reason a stamp hasn't been approved.
"A lot of people don't want to focus on a tragedy and the people who do get the stamps never give up," Altobell said.
But Beirut veterans point out that the Fallen Heroes stamp to commemorate the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 was approved before the first anniversary and the Desert Storm stamp was OK'd before the troops returned from the Persian Gulf.
Most Beirut veterans thought that the 20th anniversary of the barracks attack this year would be the time a stamp would be issued.
Last year Hall traveled to Washington, D.C. and met with U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., who put congressional action in motion to support the move for a stamp. It remains in a congressional committee, said Lanier Swann, a Jones spokeswoman.
"They haven't given it serious consideration and right now it's at a standstill in committee," Hall said.
In the short term, postal officials have arranged for a special cancellation at Jacksonville post offices Thursday, the anniversary of the bombing. It's something any local post office can do to acknowledge community events such as festivals.
"There will be a pictorial cancellation and a special cache envelope with pictures of the memorial that people can purchase." said USPS spokesman Bill Brown.
"It's a nice gesture, but it falls short," Hall said. "It's a slap in the face of our comrades."
Hall said there has been talk about a blanket stamp to cover all terrorist victims because postal officials didn't want to single out any one event.
But that infuriates Beirut veterans who say they have never been given the respect they deserve.
"Beirut is such an embarrassment to this country," said Beirut survivor Master Sgt. John Wayne Nash, 39, of Pontiac, Mich. assigned to 2nd Force Service Support Group. "We were there with a multinational peacekeeping force with the Italians, British and French and came back as victims. Although we served and Marines died for it we never got those medals. We lost 241 people that morning and there are 276 names on that wall. They come from all over the nation - every race, every creed, every color and every religion.
"Obviously it didn't mean enough because there was no presidential ribbon and no multinational peacekeeping and observers' medal," Nash said. "It says peacekeepers on the wall and it's actually one of the lowest medals. It would mean a lot to the families because it represents what they went there to do, what their mission was, what we support daily, why they died and how they should be remembered."
Family members like Tiffany Van Buren, 20, of Jacksonville, are also frustrated. Her father Cpl. Stephen Eugene Spencer, 23, a cook with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment was killed in the Oct. 23 terrorist blast.
"It's pretty ridiculous that we can't put out a stamp for the memory of everyone who was killed over there with my dad," Van Buren said. "I just don't want anyone to forget and telling people about it helps. I don't want my dad to die in vain because it wasn't an accident."
Contact the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee at USPS Headquarters, 475 L'Enfante Plaza SW, Washington, D.C. 20260
Beirut Stamp Petition click here!
http://www.petitiononline.com/10231983/petition.html
http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=Details.cfm&StoryID=17044&Section=News