thedrifter
07-18-06, 09:41 AM
Fighting brings back memories for Marine Beirut veterans
July 18,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
JACKSONVILLE DAILY NEWS STAFF
Mike Fresia watches the turmoil in Lebanon and wishes he was there.
"We've got 25,000 Americans over there," said the retired Marine who served two tours at the Beirut airport during the early 1980s. "That was the first question I got asked from one of the members here in the (Disabled American Veterans) chapter. He said, 'What do you feel about this?' I said, 'I wish I were there.'"
For many in Jacksonville, the strife in Lebanon is not only an indication of the region's growing chaos, but also a haunting reminder of a conflict more than two decades ago, when U.S. Marines were dragged into a factional stew of warfare.
The result of that is the somber Beirut Memorial near the Camp Johnson entrance, a monument to the 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers who died October 23, 1983, when their barracks were destroyed by a vehicle-borne suicide bomb.
Although many details of the conflicts are different, it's impossible for those who fought in the war-torn country or who helped pull the bodies of their comrades from beneath the rubble not to think about their own time in Beirut while reading the news today.
The situation that developed in 1983 had its roots in a Lebanese civil war that began in 1975, a fight that pitted Islamic, Christian and other factions against each other in a one-upmanship of escalating violence against each other and innocent civilians.
The conflict surged to higher levels in 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon in a bid to push the Palestinian Liberation Organization out of the country.
The parallels to the current conflict - which has the Israelis pushing into southern Lebanon to root out Hezbollah fighters and reclaim captured soldiers - are obvious to Fresia.
"It sure does (remind me), unfortunately," the Jacksonville resident said. "It's a repetitive type of warfare they've got going."
The conflict in 1982 resulted in U.S. Marines entering Beirut as part of a multinational peacekeeping force tasked with protecting evacuating civilians. The haunting words on the Beirut Memorial, "They came in peace," echo that mission.
One of those Marines was Orval Hunt, then a staff sergeant with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. He was in the barracks when an explosion ripped through it. He was injured severely and says "Only by the grace of God am I alive."
"I'm tuned in to everything going on over there," Hunt said.
Right now, the only U.S. forces involved in Lebanon are the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which was in Beirut in the 1980s as the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit.
According to a MEU press release, 21 Americans were flown from the U.S. embassy in Beirut to Cyprus on MEU helicopters. The MEU said it is preparing to "lay the groundwork" for follow-on operations, if necessary.
An estimated 25,000 American citizens are in Lebanon.
While there is no telling where the current conflict will go, Fresia said he believes it will be a grave mistake to send U.S. troops into Lebanon for anything beyond getting American citizens out.
"There's speculation for a multinational U.N. force, getting them to be a buffer between the problems over there," he said. "That would be the worst thing in the world they can do. It's not just a buffer, it's a target of opportunity for terrorists. I think the biggest thing is to evacuate those citizens that want to be evacuated."
But all the veterans can do is watch and wait, and confront their stirred memories. Hunt, for his part, said he didn't need the current conflict to remind him of that grim day in 1983.
"It never leaves my mind," he said. "There's no doubt it never leaves my mind."
July 18,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
JACKSONVILLE DAILY NEWS STAFF
Mike Fresia watches the turmoil in Lebanon and wishes he was there.
"We've got 25,000 Americans over there," said the retired Marine who served two tours at the Beirut airport during the early 1980s. "That was the first question I got asked from one of the members here in the (Disabled American Veterans) chapter. He said, 'What do you feel about this?' I said, 'I wish I were there.'"
For many in Jacksonville, the strife in Lebanon is not only an indication of the region's growing chaos, but also a haunting reminder of a conflict more than two decades ago, when U.S. Marines were dragged into a factional stew of warfare.
The result of that is the somber Beirut Memorial near the Camp Johnson entrance, a monument to the 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers who died October 23, 1983, when their barracks were destroyed by a vehicle-borne suicide bomb.
Although many details of the conflicts are different, it's impossible for those who fought in the war-torn country or who helped pull the bodies of their comrades from beneath the rubble not to think about their own time in Beirut while reading the news today.
The situation that developed in 1983 had its roots in a Lebanese civil war that began in 1975, a fight that pitted Islamic, Christian and other factions against each other in a one-upmanship of escalating violence against each other and innocent civilians.
The conflict surged to higher levels in 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon in a bid to push the Palestinian Liberation Organization out of the country.
The parallels to the current conflict - which has the Israelis pushing into southern Lebanon to root out Hezbollah fighters and reclaim captured soldiers - are obvious to Fresia.
"It sure does (remind me), unfortunately," the Jacksonville resident said. "It's a repetitive type of warfare they've got going."
The conflict in 1982 resulted in U.S. Marines entering Beirut as part of a multinational peacekeeping force tasked with protecting evacuating civilians. The haunting words on the Beirut Memorial, "They came in peace," echo that mission.
One of those Marines was Orval Hunt, then a staff sergeant with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. He was in the barracks when an explosion ripped through it. He was injured severely and says "Only by the grace of God am I alive."
"I'm tuned in to everything going on over there," Hunt said.
Right now, the only U.S. forces involved in Lebanon are the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which was in Beirut in the 1980s as the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit.
According to a MEU press release, 21 Americans were flown from the U.S. embassy in Beirut to Cyprus on MEU helicopters. The MEU said it is preparing to "lay the groundwork" for follow-on operations, if necessary.
An estimated 25,000 American citizens are in Lebanon.
While there is no telling where the current conflict will go, Fresia said he believes it will be a grave mistake to send U.S. troops into Lebanon for anything beyond getting American citizens out.
"There's speculation for a multinational U.N. force, getting them to be a buffer between the problems over there," he said. "That would be the worst thing in the world they can do. It's not just a buffer, it's a target of opportunity for terrorists. I think the biggest thing is to evacuate those citizens that want to be evacuated."
But all the veterans can do is watch and wait, and confront their stirred memories. Hunt, for his part, said he didn't need the current conflict to remind him of that grim day in 1983.
"It never leaves my mind," he said. "There's no doubt it never leaves my mind."