Phantom Blooper
10-27-03, 05:27 AM
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Article published Oct 24, 2003
'They came in peace'
More than 2,000 survivors, victims' families gather Thursday to remember those killed in Beirut on a peacekeeping mission
Jacksonville - Many approached the wall quietly, brushing their fingertips across the names engraved in the Beirut Memorial.
This gray stone monument bearing the names of 241 servicemen killed in a terrorist attack 20 years ago seems to connect those killed with the ones they left behind. More than 2,000 people, including survivors and victims' families, gathered at the Beirut Memorial Thursday to remember those murdered in Lebanon.
They came from all across the country - from gray-haired veterans sent to Beirut in the late 1950s to deal with an unstable political climate in the Middle East, to young children who paid tribute to grandfathers they never met. They were told the blood of innocent civilians and servicemen killed in terrorist attacks cry out to this country.
"Now, we are locked in a global war against terrorism," said retired Marine Maj. Bob Jordan. "I have long wished we could have stayed in Beirut. We are engaged in World War III."
Mr. Jordan said he believes future terrorist attacks could have been prevented if the military had not been pulled from the country just months after the attack on the Marine headquarters building. When he said "faint-hearted" politicians were to blame, a roar of applause and cheers followed.
He was a public affairs officer in Beirut at the time of the 1983 bombing. He had the grim task of reporting the names of the dead to the world through the press after a Mercedes truck barreled past the perimeter fence, pulled up to the Battalion Landing Team headquarters building in Beirut, and its driver detonated 12,000 pounds of TNT fixed to the truck. The explosion obliterated the four-story building.
Retired Gen. Alfred Gray, the 29th Marine Corps commandant, was Camp Lejeune's 2nd Marine Division commander when the Marine headquarters in Beirut was flattened by the blast.
"We would have liked to have gone to Lebanon and cleaned it out to the Becca Valley," he said, referring to the days following the attack. "I was responsible for what happened. They were my people."
"It's high time we woke up. Marines, we've been at war with terrorism since 23 October 1983 at least. When we look at the situation now, here we are locked in a very, very difficult struggle in the war on terrorism."
America, Mr. Gray said, has to win the war. That's going to be a tough task, he said, because it means some harsh decisions need to be made.
"Why don't we think about blowing a few people away before (terrorism) happens?" he said.
The victims' families should be proud of themselves, Mr. Gray said.
"You really did do what your sons wanted you to do, and you did carry on in your own way," he said.
Thursday's anniversary ceremony was the first for Tom and Virginia Vasmus, who drove from Elizabeth City to remember the fallen.
Mr. Vasmus was deployed to Beirut twice as a Marine corporal, once before the bombing and once after. He and his wife recall that Sunday morning, 20 years ago, when they first heard the headquarters building had been attacked.
"When I got up, the death count was 10," he said.
He lost a close friend that day to the blast.
Hundreds with similar heartbreaking stories gathered under a blanket of stars early Thursday morning at the wall. Flames from the candles they held cast shadows across their faces, revealing tears.
Each of the 241 names on the wall was read aloud in the minutes before the exact anniversary of the 6:22 a.m. bombing. It was a private ceremony for survivors and victims' families.
The mid-morning ceremony was followed by a gun salute, three rifles fired three times. As Taps was played, soft sobs joined the somber melody.
The Rev. Danny Wheeler, a Navy chaplain who was buried under rubble from the blast for five hours, gave the closing prayer.
"We left our homes in order to give peace a chance," he said.
Trista Talton 343-2070
trista.talton@starnewsonline.com
Semper Fidelis
Article published Oct 24, 2003
'They came in peace'
More than 2,000 survivors, victims' families gather Thursday to remember those killed in Beirut on a peacekeeping mission
Jacksonville - Many approached the wall quietly, brushing their fingertips across the names engraved in the Beirut Memorial.
This gray stone monument bearing the names of 241 servicemen killed in a terrorist attack 20 years ago seems to connect those killed with the ones they left behind. More than 2,000 people, including survivors and victims' families, gathered at the Beirut Memorial Thursday to remember those murdered in Lebanon.
They came from all across the country - from gray-haired veterans sent to Beirut in the late 1950s to deal with an unstable political climate in the Middle East, to young children who paid tribute to grandfathers they never met. They were told the blood of innocent civilians and servicemen killed in terrorist attacks cry out to this country.
"Now, we are locked in a global war against terrorism," said retired Marine Maj. Bob Jordan. "I have long wished we could have stayed in Beirut. We are engaged in World War III."
Mr. Jordan said he believes future terrorist attacks could have been prevented if the military had not been pulled from the country just months after the attack on the Marine headquarters building. When he said "faint-hearted" politicians were to blame, a roar of applause and cheers followed.
He was a public affairs officer in Beirut at the time of the 1983 bombing. He had the grim task of reporting the names of the dead to the world through the press after a Mercedes truck barreled past the perimeter fence, pulled up to the Battalion Landing Team headquarters building in Beirut, and its driver detonated 12,000 pounds of TNT fixed to the truck. The explosion obliterated the four-story building.
Retired Gen. Alfred Gray, the 29th Marine Corps commandant, was Camp Lejeune's 2nd Marine Division commander when the Marine headquarters in Beirut was flattened by the blast.
"We would have liked to have gone to Lebanon and cleaned it out to the Becca Valley," he said, referring to the days following the attack. "I was responsible for what happened. They were my people."
"It's high time we woke up. Marines, we've been at war with terrorism since 23 October 1983 at least. When we look at the situation now, here we are locked in a very, very difficult struggle in the war on terrorism."
America, Mr. Gray said, has to win the war. That's going to be a tough task, he said, because it means some harsh decisions need to be made.
"Why don't we think about blowing a few people away before (terrorism) happens?" he said.
The victims' families should be proud of themselves, Mr. Gray said.
"You really did do what your sons wanted you to do, and you did carry on in your own way," he said.
Thursday's anniversary ceremony was the first for Tom and Virginia Vasmus, who drove from Elizabeth City to remember the fallen.
Mr. Vasmus was deployed to Beirut twice as a Marine corporal, once before the bombing and once after. He and his wife recall that Sunday morning, 20 years ago, when they first heard the headquarters building had been attacked.
"When I got up, the death count was 10," he said.
He lost a close friend that day to the blast.
Hundreds with similar heartbreaking stories gathered under a blanket of stars early Thursday morning at the wall. Flames from the candles they held cast shadows across their faces, revealing tears.
Each of the 241 names on the wall was read aloud in the minutes before the exact anniversary of the 6:22 a.m. bombing. It was a private ceremony for survivors and victims' families.
The mid-morning ceremony was followed by a gun salute, three rifles fired three times. As Taps was played, soft sobs joined the somber melody.
The Rev. Danny Wheeler, a Navy chaplain who was buried under rubble from the blast for five hours, gave the closing prayer.
"We left our homes in order to give peace a chance," he said.
Trista Talton 343-2070
trista.talton@starnewsonline.com
Semper Fidelis