Marines in Beirut, Part I: 32d MAU Goes Ashore
Marines in Beirut, Part I: 32d MAU Goes Ashore
Submitted by: 22nd MEU
Story Identification Number: 2003929145616
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Keith A. Milks
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Sept. 29, 2003) -- When the military arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) began lobbing artillery shells against Jewish settlements in the northern Israeli province of Galilee from positions inside Lebanon, they brought to fruition long-simmering tensions in the region. The ensuing Israeli response was as swift and violent as it was predicable.
On June 6, 1982, seven Israeli Defense Force (IDF) divisions numbering 78,000 men and more than 1,200 tanks crossed the border into Lebanon across a 63-mile front. The intent of Operation PEACE FOR GALILEE was to create a 40-kilometer buffer zone inside Lebanon to thwart future attacks against the Galilee settlements and crush PLO and Syrian forces in the country.
Despite pockets of fierce resistance, the IDF sent the PLO fleeing toward the Lebanese capital of Beirut and severely mauled the 30 thousand-strong Syrian force both on the ground and in the air. After six days of intense combat, a ceasefire was signed between Syria and Israel, and later, the PLO. The Lebanese, who had stood aside as the IDF advanced, watched in horror as 14 thousand PLO fighters poured into Beirut, which prompted the IDF to encircle the city by both land and sea, laying siege to the city.
Meanwhile, the 32d Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU), based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. and commanded by Col. James M. Mead, was ordered to Lebanese coastal waters as the situation in Lebanon unfolded. The 32d MAU had left the United States on May 25, 1982 aboard the amphibious ships USS GUAM, NASHVILLE, HERITAGE, SAGINAW, and MANITOWOC, and consisted of its Command Element, Battalion Landing Team 2d Bn., 8th Marines, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 266 (Reinforced), and MAU Service Support Group 32.
Over the course of the next four months, the 32d MAU remained on station off Lebanon prepared to conduct missions ashore. On June 24, MSSG-32 oversaw the evacuation of 580 noncombatants from the port of Juniyah while HMM-261 (Rein) was kept busy supporting the ongoing efforts of the U.S. State Department to forge a lasting peace. Dubbed the 'Cammie Cab Service,' HMM-261 flew more than 60 missions in support of these diplomatic efforts.
During this prolonged period afloat, the ships were able to break away piecemeal to make port visits in Italy. Doing so required the MAU to constantly shift personnel and equipment to ensure forces remained on hand to support any given mission, but gave the Marines and Sailors a much-needed break from the tedium of cutting 'gator squares.'
In early August, a military liaison team went ashore to support the Special Envoy to Lebanon, Ambassador Phillip C. Habib. Representing the MAU was Lt. Col. Robert B. Johnston, commanding officer of the unit's ground combat element, BLT 2/8.
The focus of the ongoing negotiations was to secure the evacuation of the PLO forces from Beirut as fighting continued to escalate in and around Beirut between the IDF, PLO, Lebanese Christians, and Shi'ite Moslems. Finally, after weeks of intense negotiations, an agreement was
On Aug. 25, a 2,000-man peacekeeping force (composed of 400 Italians, 800 French, and 800 American troops) was ordered to land in Beirut. The 32d MAU provided the American contingent of the force, and was tasked with securing Beirut's port through which the PLO would be evacuated by ship. Via landing craft, utility (LCU), E and F Companies were the first ashore and immediately secured the port. G Company followed, as did elements of the MAU Command Element and MSSG-32.
The next morning, the first ship arrived in port to begin evacuating PLO and Syrian forces. By the end of the day, 1,066 PLO fighters had been allowed to pass through the Marine lines and reach the ship. Elsewhere in Beirut, the Italian and French were also facilitating the departure of the PLO and Syrians.
Over the course of the next 15 days, the evacuation went smoothly as the PLO streamed through the port facilities. The culminating event was the departure of PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat, on Aug. 30. Escorted by French forces, Arafat's arrival at the port caused a huge crowd of well-wishers and media to congregate.
As they approached the port gate, guarded by the grunts of E/2/8, some of Arafat's 25-man bodyguard detachment attempted to push their way past the Marines. The Marines coolly stood their ground and pushed back. The PLO thugs quickly backed down and within the hour, Arafat was aboard the merchant ship ATLANTIS and out of Beirut.
By Sept. 9, the evacuation was complete, calm had more or less descended onto Beirut, and the 32d MAU began reboarding its amphibious shipping. During their 15 days ashore in Beirut, the 32d MAU oversaw the evacuation of 6,436 armed PLO and Syrian fighters, and do so firing a shot.
Mere days after the Marines left, on Sept. 14, Lebanon's Christian president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated by PLO supporters. Compounded by the massacre of several hundred Palestinian refugees by Christian militia, Beirut again exploded into violence. Lebanon's new president immediately requested a Multi-National Force (MNF) to arrive in Beirut to help restore the peace.
In the midst of well-deserved liberty visits to Italy, the 32d MAU was again ordered to Beirut, and arrived there in late September. During the day of Sept. 29, more than 1,200 Marines came ashore at the port of Beirut and convoyed to their positions at Beirut International Airport. Italian troops occupied the areas to the south of Beirut that teemed with refugee camps and the French operated in Beirut itself. All told, the MNF numbered 3,000 troops.
Sept. 30 brought the first casualties of the American presence in Beirut. As they cleared BIA, an unexploded piece of ordnance unexpectedly detonated, killing Cpl. David Reagan and wounding three other Marines. Reagan would be the first of 266 Americans to die in Beirut.
The 32d MAU quickly went to work fortifying BIA, digging fighting positions, erecting guard posts, laying concertina wire, and clearing fields of fire. The headquarters for the MAU and its elements ashore were established in abandoned buildings throughout the BIA terminal area.
While the MAU Command Element, BLT 2/8, and MSSG-32 had a sizable force presence ashore, all of HMM-261 (Rein) remained aboard ARG shipping except for a single CH-46E which stood ready at BIA in case of medical emergencies.
Throughout October, the Marines conducted limited foot and vehicular patrols in the direct vicinity of BIA, and forged lasting relationships with the French and Italian contingents of the MNF through social functions and sporting events.
At this time, the local populace of Beirut displayed little overt opposition to the MNF presence and the 32d MAU Marines were frequently. The area around BIA was essentially a Muslim enclave and the Marines were well-received as they were seen as a deterrent to further Israeli, Syrian, PLO, and Christian imposition on their neighborhoods.
Despite a few desultory rounds landing on the Marine compound fired by the Lebanese, PLO, Israeli, and numerous militias operating in and around Beirut, the Americans were not an active target. Unfortunately, this would not last.
By late October, the 32d MAU had been deployed longer than anticipated, and the arrival of the advance party from the 24th MAU on Oct. 26 was well-received. Turn-over between the two MAUs continued for four days as the incoming MAU was briefed on the situation in Beirut and disposition of forces ashore. Early on the morning of Oct. 30, elements of the 24th MAU came ashore and conducted a relief-in-place with the 32d. Col. Thomas M. Stokes, Jr., Commanding Officer of the 24th MAU, relieved Col. Mead as the Commander, Task Force 62, and assumed responsibility for American participation in the MNF.
With their forces back aboard ship, the 22d MAU headed west toward an exercise in Morocco, then on to Rota, Spain and eventually the United States. Upon arrival at the port in Morehead City, N.C. the 32d MAU was met by a massive crowd of media representatives, well-wishers and official dignitaries, including the future Marine Corps Commandant, then-Maj. Gen. Alfred M. Gray, Jr., who was at that time the Commanding General of the 2d Marine Division.
Meanwhile, back in Beirut, the 24th MAU was settling in for a sustained deployment in Lebanon that would bring the unit, and later, the 22d MAU, its share of heartache, exasperation, and frustration.
This story is the first is a three-part series that details the role Marines played in Beirut from 1982 to 84. A fourth installment details the 22d MAU's participation in Operation URGENT FURY in Grenada. New chapters will be posted to www.usmc.mil and www.22meu.usmc.mil each Monday in October.
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Marines from the 32d Marine Amphibious Unit man a checkpoint at the port in Beirut, Lebanon in late Aug. 1982 during the evacuation of PLO and Syrian fighters from the country. The 32d MAU, later named the 22d MAU, would serve four tours in Beirut in support of multi-national peace-keeping operations there.
Photo by: Official USMC Photo
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Marines from BLT 2/8, the ground combat element of the 32d Marine Amphibious Unit, stand in formation upon returning home from duty in Beirut, Lebanon as the initial U.S. contingent of a multi-national peacekpeeping force.
Photo by: Official USMC Photo
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Taking a drink at the "Can't Shoot Back Saloon"; Marines in Beirut, Part II
Taking a drink at the "Can't Shoot Back Saloon"; Marines in Beirut, Part II
Submitted by: 22nd MEU
Story Identification Number: 200310875218
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Keith A. Milks
Camp Lejeune, N.C. (Oct. 7, 2003) -- When the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit landed in Beirut, Lebanon to relieve the 32d MAU on Oct. 30, 1982, its strength stood at 1,806 Marines and 81 Sailors. These numbers represented the MAU's Command Element, Battalion Landing Team 3d Bn., 8th Marines, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 (Reinforced), and MAU Service Support Group 24.
The day after the first 24 MAU elements crossed Beirut's 'Green Beach,' the illusion of entering a benign environment was shattered when a car bomb exploded near the beach entrance. Although no one was injured, the explosion was a violent harbinger of things to come.
Within a week of its arrival in Beirut, the 24th MAU began an aggressive patrolling campaign in the region of the Beirut International Airport where the MAU was headquartered. This soon expanded into motorized patrols and took the Marines into the urban sprawl of east Beirut, the slums and refugee camps surrounding BIA, and eventually north Beirut.
In addition to making their presence known, the 24th MAU also began training elements of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Unfortunately, training the LAF planted the seed in the minds of the Israeli, Shi'ite, and Muslim factions in Beirut that the Marines were casting aside the neutrality under which they acted as peacekeepers and siding with the Christian government.
Col. Thomas M. Stokes, Jr., the 24th MAU's commanding officer, did his best to keep his Marines' occupied during this period. As a force protection measure, liberty was not authorized for the Marines, but Stokes did allow his Marines to tour Beirut in buses and also visit local sites of historical interest. Cross training with the French and Italian peacekeepers was conducted and the Marines received numerous briefs on the culture, history, and current situation in Lebanon. The Marines were also rotated back to the amphibious shipping and enjoyed port visits to Greece and Turkey.
Part of the MAU's ongoing efforts to engender goodwill with the Lebanese citizenry were civil affairs projects. Teams of medical and dental specialists would set up clinics and treat the minor ailments of Lebanese civilians. During its first tour in Beirut, the 24th MAU treated more than two thousand medical and dental patients, and began a trend that was followed throughout most of the U.S.'s time in Beirut.
The most notable occurrence of the 24th MAU's first tour in Beirut was a incident between Marine and IDF forces in early February 1984 that highlighted tensions between the various factions in Lebanon. Since their arrival in Beirut, the Israelis had been using the Old Sidon Road cutting through the city as a supply route for their forces in northern Beirut. Several times IDF convoys had been ambushed along the road and the IDF responded by escorting their supply convoys with tanks and infantry-laden trucks.
Several times the IDF attempted to bully their way through the Marine sector where they thought their ambushers were operating from, but were each time rebuffed. On the morning of Feb. 2, Capt. Charles B. Johnson, the commanding officer of Lima Co., BLT 3/8, was with his Marines at a checkpoint on Old Sidon Road when three IDF Centurion tanks approached their position. As the tanks drew near, Johnson moved to the center of the road to block their passage and the lead tank stopped mere inches from the Marine.
The IDF lieutenant colonel in charge of the column spoke briefly with Johnson and stated they were passing through the Marine position. Johnson immediately drew his pistol and chambered a round, holding the weapon at the ready. The Israelis seemed to back down as the lead tank pulled to the side when suddenly the remaining two tanks gunned their engines and attempted to swing past.
Johnson unhesitatingly leapt onto one of the moving tanks and grabbed the Israeli tank commander, yelling at him to stop as he held his pistol menacingly in his other hand. The Israelis immediately complied and went back down Old Sidon Road from where they had come. The young captain became an instant celebrity as U.S. and Arab media outlets picked up the story. The Israelis accused Johnson of being drunk but let the story die down when public opinion swung dramatically against them. An investigation cleared Johnson of wrong-doing and Israeli and Marine commanders met to more clearly define their respective unit's boundaries.
Johnson's confrontation with the Israeli's was the culminating event of the 24th MAU's three-month deployment to Beirut. On Feb. 9, advance elements of the 22d MAU (formerly the 32d) began arriving in Beirut to relieve the 24th. By the evening of Feb. 14, the 22d MAU was firmly ashore and the 24th had retrograded to its amphibious shipping and was steaming west across the Mediterranean. Upon its return to the U.S. on March 8, the 24th MAU was met with much fanfare and adulation.
While the Marines and Sailors of the 24th MAU's BLT 3/8 and MSSG-24 remained in the spotlight for their work ashore in Beirut, an often overlooked contributor was the MAU's aviation combat element which remained aboard ship. HMM-263 accumulated nearly 6,400 flight hours flying various logistic and diplomatic missions, and the unit's AH-1T Sea Cobras maintained a constant alert status.
Thousands of miles away, the 22d MAU commander, Col. James M. Mead, was on his third tour in Beirut, and now had at his disposal BLT 2/6, HMM-264 (Rein), and MSSG-22. Much of the Command Element staff from Mead's earlier Beirut tours were with him again, providing him with much-appreciated knowledge of Beirut and the situation ashore.
The 22d MAU began conducting motorized patrols throughout Beirut and foot patrols in the area around BIA. They continued the training regimen for the LAF, and worked constantly to fortify their positions.
In late February, unusually cold weather gripped Lebanon, and while the Marines were uncomfortable in Beirut, the situation became life-threatening for pockets of Lebanese civilians in rural areas. Lebanon's president requested the MNF help deliver supplies to villages isolated by the heavy snowfall and rescue stranded travelers.
The 22d MAU responded by conducting helicopter and mechanized forays into the affected areas. The move required negotiating with Syrian forces in the area, and during the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 22, nine assault amphibian vehicles headed toward Qataba village through precarious mountain passes and vehicle-high snow drifts. The column reached the village and evacuated a number of civilians while helicopters traced the highways checking on stranded motorists, and in time rescued four civilians from the storm.
French and Italian forces also participated in the rescue efforts, and by Feb. 24, the mission had ended. Later, the melting snow flooded the Beka'a Valley, creating another humanitarian disaster to which the 22d MAU responded by loaning the Lebanese government boats and other supplies.
Over the months, the U.S. policy in Lebanon was seen as favoring the Christian government, and this served to brew hate and discontent against the MNF among the various factions vying for control of Beirut. Attacks against the U.S., French, and Italian forces began in earnest in mid-March when an Italian patrol was ambushed, killing one soldier and wounding nine others.
The very next day, a Marine rifle squad patrolling the streets north of BIA were the victims of a grenade attack that injured five Marines. Although Lebanese authorities quickly arrested a pro-Iranian militiaman, the attack caused the Marines to suspend foot patrols in favor of an increased motorized and mechanized presence.
Over the course of the next month, the MNF became the target of scattered small arms fire which caused no casualties but did force the U.S., French, and Italian forces to adopt a more aggressive stance. On April 17, after being fired upon by an unknown attacker, a Marine from Co. F, BLT 2/6 returned fire. It was the first time since their arrival in Beirut that the Marines had the opportunity to engage an enemy.
The euphoria felt by the Marines in light of the brief firefight was short-lived. The next day, April 18, a van laden with more than a ton of explosives drove past an inattentive civilian guard and crashed into the lobby of the U.S. Embassy to Lebanon. The explosion rocked the city and tore apart the façade of the seven-story Embassy. Sixty three persons were killed, including 17 Americans. Of the American fatalities was Cpl. Robert V. McMaugh, a Marine Security Guard on duty at the time of the explosion.
The 22d MAU raced to the scene of the terrorist attack with a rifle company who immediately secured the area alongside a platoon of French Marines. An exhaustive search was launched to recover survivors and any classified material strewn about the area. Several days later, the U.S. Embassy was temporarily relocated to the British consulate compound, and a platoon of Marines commanded by 1st Lt. William G. Leftwich III was detailed to secure the facilities.
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Marines in Beirut III: Disaster, Withdrawal, and Legacy
Marines in Beirut III: Disaster, Withdrawal, and Legacy
Submitted by: 22nd MEU
Story Identification Number: 200310206351
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Keith A. Milks
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Oct. 18, 2003) -- On duty as Sergeant of the Guard, Sgt. Stephen E. Russell provided the only warning to the Marines and Sailors of the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) as a explosive-laden truck sped toward the four-story building housing the MAU's ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 8th Marines.
Screaming "Hit the deck!," Russell ran across the lobby of the building urging his Marines to take cover as the truck bore down on him. Seconds later, the truck exploded, tossing Russell into the air, out of the building, and onto the street outside severely injured.
Other Marine sentries posted around the building had seen the yellow Mercedes-Benz five-ton state bed truck dodge concrete barriers and run over concertina wire emplacements but didn't have time to respond. Standing rules of engagement prohibited the Marines from carrying loaded weapons, and the seconds it took to load and chamber their rifles cost them the opportunity to engage the smiling suicide bomber behind the wheel of the truck.
Inside the truck, canisters filled with explosive gas had been wrapped with explosives and detonated with force equivalent to more than 12,000 pounds of TNT. The concrete building collapsed on itself and created a crater nearly nine feet deep. Inside and near the mounds of rubble were 241 dead Americans; 220 Marines, 18 Sailors, and three soldiers. More than 100 others were wounded.
It was 6:22 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23, 1983
The surviving Marines and Sailors of the MAU raced from their billeting scattered around Beirut International Airport (BIA) and were greeted by a thick black cloud rising from where the BLT 1/8 headquarters had stood. Doing their best to shake off their shock, the survivors immediately began digging through the rubble with their bare hands looking for their slain and wounded comrades.
Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, 24th MAU Commanding Officer, immediately ordered messages be sent to Sixth Fleet Headquarters and the National Military Command Center (NMCC) in Washington, D.C. informing them of the disaster. Geraghty's second-in-command, Lt. Col. Harold W. Slacum radioed the other MNF contingents asking that they dispatch medical and recovery teams. He also contacted the Navy ships off shore asking them to provide medical assistance and that the battleship NEW JERSEY send her Marine guard detachment to beef up security at the site.
Lebanese, Italian, and British soldiers immediately arrived on the scene and pitched in to the recovery and rescue operations. The French also dispatched soldiers to the scene even though they too were the victims of a truck bombing. At almost the same time the MAU was hit, a small truck bomb slammed into a French paratroop barracks, killing 58 soldiers.
A brief message sent to the NMCC at 7 a.m. summed up the situation:
"Explosion at BLT 1/8 HQ ... a large explosion at BLT 1/8 HQ Bldg collapsed the roof and leveled the building. Large number of dead and injured. Are using MSSG 24 and Italian MNF medical and will med-evac out of LS Brown ... French report Bldg in their sector also bombed ... unknown injured; BLT HQ destroyed. Amplifying info to follow."
Amid the recovery efforts, the MAU's Chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. George Pucciarelli and the Sixth Fleet's Chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. Arnold E. Resnicoff, circulated among the site, ministering to the dead and wounded.
A Lebanese construction firm appeared just before 8 a.m. with cranes and heavy earth movers, augmenting the hard-pressed equipment from MEU Service Support Group 24.
Further complicating the recovery efforts was intermittent sniper fire pinging around the international rescue efforts, and the appearance of looters. The Marines responded in kind to the sniper fire and chased away the looters.
At 10:30 a.m., an Air Force C-9 'Florence Nightingale' was the first of a flotilla of aircraft to arrive at BIA. The aircraft lifted off soon thereafter with a number of walking wounded and several litter patients. Over the course of the next few hours, more casualties were flown aboard U.S. and British aircraft to hospitals in Naples, Cyprus, and Germany.
The total number of injured rose to 112, and by 1 p.m., the last survivor was pulled from the rubble. At that point, the rescue efforts turned to recovery.
The next day, France's President Francois Mitterand visited the sites of the French and American bombings. He was the first of many delegates to inspect the damage that included the Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Paul X. Kelley and Vice President George H. Bush.
On Oct. 25, Gen. Kelley, en route to Lebanon with a party of high-ranking political and military officials, visited the Air Force Regional Medical Center in Wiesbaden, Germany where one of the most poignant moments of the tragedy occurred.
There, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Nashton lay in intensive care with severe injuries sustained in the bombing. Unable to speak or see, Nashton grabbed Kelly's camouflage jacket, reached up to his collar and counted the four stars. Given a pad of paper, Nashton wrote two simple words; 'Semper Fi.'
Upon Kelley's arrival in Beirut, Geraghty gave him and Vice President Bush a tour of the bomb site and briefed them on the recovery efforts and ongoing security efforts. Throughout their visit, and during stops to visit the wounded on the way back to the United States, the pair presented many of the wounded Marines and Sailors with Purple Hearts.
Meanwhile, as recovery efforts continued in Lebanon, thousands of miles away, the 22d MAU was diverted to the Caribbean island of Grenada where they invaded the island nation alongside Army forces. As a stop gap to the 22d MAU's arrival in Lebanon, the 2d Marine Division?s air alert force was activated, and the headquarters of the 2d Bn., 6th Marines was sent to Lebanon and redesignated as the 1st Bn., 8th Marines. Several days later, a rifle company from the battalion arrived to bolster the depleted strength of BLT 1/8.
A committee was later appointed by the Secretary of Defense to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack. The committee was headed up by retired Navy Admiral Robert L.J. Long, and included retired generals from the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. After an extensive investigation, the Long Commission levied blame for the tragedy against a number of individuals and commands.
Col. Geraghty was faulted for supposedly ignoring warnings against such terrorist attacks, and the BLT 1/8 commander, Lt. Col. Howard Gerlach, who was severely wounded in the attack, was criticized for allowing so much of his unit to billet in a single location. The Commodore of Amphibious Squadron 8, Navy Capt. Morgan France, and the Sixth Fleet staff were criticized for not reviewing the MAU's security posture as events in Lebanon unfolded. The Long Commission condemned Iran and Syria for carrying out, or at least supporting, the attack.
The MAU's security posture at BIA was immediately strengthened in the days following the attack as concrete and earthen barricades were erected and guard posts more heavily fortified. Administrative and other non-essential elements were sent to work from ships off shore and Col. Geraghty consolidated his Marines' positions.
Three Marines were wounded in mortar attacks on Oct. 26 and over the course of the next several weeks, the Marines were subjected to almost daily mortar, rocket, and direct fire attacks. On Nov. 17, the advance elements of the 22d MAU began arriving in Beiruta.
The relief-in-place between the 22d and 24th MAUs went off without a hitch, and by midnight on 19 Nov., the 24th MAU had completely retrograded from Lebanon. Brig. Gen. Jim R. Joy, the recently designated 22d MAU commander, officially relieved Col. Geraghty as the commander of the U.S.'s MNF contingent the next morning and the ships bearing the 24th MAU sailed away from Lebanon.
After a wash down in Rota, Spain, the 24th MAU crossed the Atlantic and arrived in North Carolina during the last days of November to an boisterous welcome from families, friends, and well-wishers.
Back in Lebanon, the 22d MAU (consisting of its Command Element, BLT 2/8, HMM-261, and MSSG-22) settled into its fourth tour in Beirut. Col. James P. Faulkner originally commanded the MAU, but on Nov. 3, the 2d Marine Division's assistant commander, Brig. Gen. Joy, had been given command of the MAU and Faulkner became Joy's chief of staff.
A platoon of Marines from F/2/8 were flown to the Embassy where they bolstered security and at BIA, the priority of the MAU went to improving security there. A Navy Construction Bn. ('Seabee')Team arrived in Beirut and helped oversee the construction of nearly 200 underground bunkers and strengthening of existing positions. The MAU's rules of engagement were expanded to cover any possible situation, and the Marines given greater latitude in defending themselves.
On Dec. 4, Navy bombers attacked Syrian positions near Beirut and two were shot down by surface to air missiles. Within hours of the bombing attack, the 22d MAU positions came under heavy rocket and small arms attack and eight Marines from G/2/8 were killed when an 122mm rocket scored a direct attack against their outpost. Two others were wounded in the blast.
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A thick, black cloud rises from the shattered headquarters of Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 8th Marines, the ground combat element of the 22d Marine Amphibious Unit, where, only seconds before, a suicide bomber drove a explosive-laden truck into the building, killing 220 Marines, 18 Sailors, and three soldiers.
Photo by: Official USMC Photo
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