Military education presentation focuses on Beirut bombing

Military education presentation focuses on Beirut bombing By Adelina Colbert - Adelina.colbert@JDNews.com
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 17:14 PM.


Retired Col. Timothy Geraghty, the former commander for the Marine Amphibious Unit deployed to Beirut in 1983, was quoted on Tuesday as saying, “The peacekeepers’ valor and sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
The colonel’s words were upheld that afternoon as active-duty Marines, veterans and members of the community gathered aboard the Marine Corps Air Station New River for a professional military education presentation on the devastating 1983 Beirut barracks bombing.
Beirut veteran Gunnery Sgt. Dan Joy, historian Ron Bower and author Betty Schiefelbein were among the speakers invited to speak to the crowd of about 40 at the base theater.
According to 1st Lt. Sarah Burns, a public affairs officer for Marine Corps Installations East, the presentation was a chance for younger Marines to learn about the Corps’ history.
“It was very timely to have a Beirut … professional military education presentation for the Marines at the air station because that’s part of our heritage,” said Burns.
During the presentation, Joy shared pictures and his experience as a young Marine serving in what was then known as a peacekeeping mission while Bower gave the audience an overall background to the situation in Lebanon.
According to Camp Lejeune’s website, the Lebanese government had requested a U.S. military presence to serve in the country as a peacekeeping force in the conflict between warring Muslim and Christian factions. In 1983, Marines from the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit deployed as part of the agreement but as tensions grew between the various groups in the nation, Marines started getting caught in the crossfire and were perceived as an enemy group.
On Oct. 23, 1983, the barracks and Headquarters building for 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, was destroyed by a terrorist-driven truck, filled with gas-enhanced explosives, killing 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers that morning.
“The building collapsed like a house of cards,” said Joy.
Joy said the explosion at one point in time was referred to as “the world’s largest non-nuclear explosion on the face of the earth.”
“It reverberated in everyone’s body about a mile and a half away,” he said. “It shattered glass windows about two miles away.”
Despite learning about the Beirut bombing in boot camp for Marines, Burns said the presentation offers Marines a chance at interacting with veterans and members of the community who lived through the time when the bombing happened.
“It’s very important that as Marines we continue to learn about our history and our heritage,” she said. “ … It’s one thing to read about it history and it’s (another) thing to actually talk to someone who was there.”
Schiefelbein took the opportunity during the presentation to share writings by Beirut Marines.
Burns said Marines through the presentation will also get the chance to understand the culture and the type of relationship that military installations in the Jacksonville area and the city has had through the years.
“So this presentation really gives them a unique experience … to hear the history from community members who were there when this took place and how that was a watershed moment in our community’s history where the military and the local civilian population really came and worked together and created the Jacksonville we have today,” she said.