thedrifter
10-21-02, 06:12 PM
E-mail story Printer Friendly
Article ran : 10/21/2002
Beirut troops revered
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
RICHLANDS — As he sits in a rocking chair on the porch of his home in Richlands, Charles G. Hall gets a distant look in his eyes. He begins to speak in a low and even tone.
“A lot of good people died that day,” he says recalling Oct. 23, 1983. Hall, a retired Marine Corps staff sergeant saw what happened at 6:20 a.m. Beirut time when 241 servicemen — most attached to Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station — lost their lives when a terrorist detonated a truck loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives at the headquarters of 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment attached to the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit. They were on a peacekeeping mission.
Hall can never forget. He doesn’t want anyone else to either.
Efforts go back nearly a decade
For nearly a decade Hall and other Beirut survivors have tried to get the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp to remember those lost in the bombing. Now as many as 273 have died in the blast, from snipers or as a result of wounds suffered at the terminal building while they were simply keeping the airport open to traffic.
“We tried to get a stamp on the 10th anniversary and the 15th anniversary, but we have been turned down each time,” said Hall, a former infantryman and 1st Platoon Guide who was at a nearby outpost when the blast occurred. “I don’t begrudge anybody a stamp that they already received, but it only took a year for a Sept. 11 stamp and there was stamp for Desert Storm while the troops were still over there.”
Hall is still not entirely comfortable speaking about all the specific images that he encountered that day and last year’s Sept. 11 attacks brought memories of collapsed buildings, dust and lost friends rushing back to him.
“We need to recognize the Marines, sailors and soldiers,” he said.
On the day of the attack, elements of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment attached to the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit were on the far side of the International Airport, approximately 1½ miles away from the four-story terminal that was converted into a headquarters complex. Hall could see what happened.
“We were at Root Gulch, making coffee Sunday,” Hall said. “It was a clear morning and you could see their building from our position. When I walked outside the whole ground vibrated and the building fell. It was devastating.”
To complicate matters, he was responsible for making sure that the 1/8 headquarters had enough people from his unit for miscellaneous duties and they were constantly exchanging personnel between the sites.
About eight people from an anti-armor section were recently transferred to the headquarters and several of his men were assigned mess duty there the day before the attack.
Now when he visits the Beirut Memorial wall, he looks for the names of friends such as Lance Cpl. Jefferey Owens from Virginia Beach, Va.; Sgt. MeCot Camara from West Virginia, Lance Cpl. Bill J. Stelpflug from Auburn, Alabama; Cpl. John B. Buckmaster from Vandalia, Ohio; and Petty Officer 2nd Class George N. McVicker II a hospital corpsman from Wabash, Indiana.
They would often talk about their hometowns, life before the military and their hopes for the future that they never dreamed wouldn’t come to pass.
“Camara was so hard charging and squared away that he made all his ranks meritoriously,” Hall said. “He named his son Echo after the military phonetic alphabet. That’s how gungie that kid was.”
Remembering men like Camara is the driving force behind a commemorative stamp. Hall said he recently sent letters to U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., asking that the stamp be approved. Hall and others hope that efforts toward a stamp by the 20th anniversary next year will be successful.
“For the stamp to be licked, sticked and cancelled is not a big deal,” Hall said. “What’s important is the recognition for those we have lost. What’s fair is fair.”
So far, however, efforts have hit a wall each time. Hall said in 1993 a group of Blue Star Mothers who lost husbands and sons in Beirut, approached the U.S. Postmaster General and the 15-member Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee with 20,000 signatures in favor of the stamp. Committee members turned down the request. Hall said the reasoning at the time was that the group wanted to honor positive events and that Beirut lacked significance in American history.
Hall and others don’t see it that way and question whether similar reasons would be given to the families of those lost in the terrorist attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001. Hall said he hopes others in America can begin to understand some of what they experienced and many of the images that still live within them today.
“The stamp would mean a lot to the families of those who were killed over there,” Hall said. “It is one of the most patriotic things that you can do for these people.”
Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.
Sempers,
Roger
Article ran : 10/21/2002
Beirut troops revered
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
RICHLANDS — As he sits in a rocking chair on the porch of his home in Richlands, Charles G. Hall gets a distant look in his eyes. He begins to speak in a low and even tone.
“A lot of good people died that day,” he says recalling Oct. 23, 1983. Hall, a retired Marine Corps staff sergeant saw what happened at 6:20 a.m. Beirut time when 241 servicemen — most attached to Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station — lost their lives when a terrorist detonated a truck loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives at the headquarters of 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment attached to the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit. They were on a peacekeeping mission.
Hall can never forget. He doesn’t want anyone else to either.
Efforts go back nearly a decade
For nearly a decade Hall and other Beirut survivors have tried to get the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp to remember those lost in the bombing. Now as many as 273 have died in the blast, from snipers or as a result of wounds suffered at the terminal building while they were simply keeping the airport open to traffic.
“We tried to get a stamp on the 10th anniversary and the 15th anniversary, but we have been turned down each time,” said Hall, a former infantryman and 1st Platoon Guide who was at a nearby outpost when the blast occurred. “I don’t begrudge anybody a stamp that they already received, but it only took a year for a Sept. 11 stamp and there was stamp for Desert Storm while the troops were still over there.”
Hall is still not entirely comfortable speaking about all the specific images that he encountered that day and last year’s Sept. 11 attacks brought memories of collapsed buildings, dust and lost friends rushing back to him.
“We need to recognize the Marines, sailors and soldiers,” he said.
On the day of the attack, elements of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment attached to the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit were on the far side of the International Airport, approximately 1½ miles away from the four-story terminal that was converted into a headquarters complex. Hall could see what happened.
“We were at Root Gulch, making coffee Sunday,” Hall said. “It was a clear morning and you could see their building from our position. When I walked outside the whole ground vibrated and the building fell. It was devastating.”
To complicate matters, he was responsible for making sure that the 1/8 headquarters had enough people from his unit for miscellaneous duties and they were constantly exchanging personnel between the sites.
About eight people from an anti-armor section were recently transferred to the headquarters and several of his men were assigned mess duty there the day before the attack.
Now when he visits the Beirut Memorial wall, he looks for the names of friends such as Lance Cpl. Jefferey Owens from Virginia Beach, Va.; Sgt. MeCot Camara from West Virginia, Lance Cpl. Bill J. Stelpflug from Auburn, Alabama; Cpl. John B. Buckmaster from Vandalia, Ohio; and Petty Officer 2nd Class George N. McVicker II a hospital corpsman from Wabash, Indiana.
They would often talk about their hometowns, life before the military and their hopes for the future that they never dreamed wouldn’t come to pass.
“Camara was so hard charging and squared away that he made all his ranks meritoriously,” Hall said. “He named his son Echo after the military phonetic alphabet. That’s how gungie that kid was.”
Remembering men like Camara is the driving force behind a commemorative stamp. Hall said he recently sent letters to U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., asking that the stamp be approved. Hall and others hope that efforts toward a stamp by the 20th anniversary next year will be successful.
“For the stamp to be licked, sticked and cancelled is not a big deal,” Hall said. “What’s important is the recognition for those we have lost. What’s fair is fair.”
So far, however, efforts have hit a wall each time. Hall said in 1993 a group of Blue Star Mothers who lost husbands and sons in Beirut, approached the U.S. Postmaster General and the 15-member Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee with 20,000 signatures in favor of the stamp. Committee members turned down the request. Hall said the reasoning at the time was that the group wanted to honor positive events and that Beirut lacked significance in American history.
Hall and others don’t see it that way and question whether similar reasons would be given to the families of those lost in the terrorist attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001. Hall said he hopes others in America can begin to understand some of what they experienced and many of the images that still live within them today.
“The stamp would mean a lot to the families of those who were killed over there,” Hall said. “It is one of the most patriotic things that you can do for these people.”
Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.
Sempers,
Roger