thedrifter
10-15-06, 08:54 AM
Borrowed from hubby's site...
They came in peace ... long hoped for, yet elusive
By Bonnie Throckmorton
The Jacksonville Daily News
Oct. 20, 2002
The words are etched in our minds, we who lived in Jacksonville 19 years ago. Our Marines and sailors were serving in Beirut, Lebanon, as peacekeepers. Indeed, they went that bullet-riddled den of unrest under orders; they were there as a part of some misguided foreign policy dreamed up by politicians.
In the end, 241 came home in flag-draped coffins — never to see their loved ones again. Dear God, what a tragic and unnecessary loss of life that October morning when terrorism visited Jacksonville and her citizens.
Just as the incredible blue skies, splashed with the scarlet of fire, will always represent Sept. 11 to me, the torrential rains of the wee hours of Sunday, October 23, 1983, will always bring back the Beirut bombing. It was an atypical fall day, no burning leaves, no crisp autumn weather, just a steady drumbeat of rain on the roof and the incessant ringing of the telephone.
Phone calls at 5 a.m. on a Sunday are rarely good news. To this day, I can close my eyes and remember the call. My husband, then a Marine captain, grabbed the receiver, listed for a few seconds and hung up. “What’s wrong?” I asked. He replied, “Heavy casualties in Beirut.” He was gone within minutes.
The rest of the day was spent doing what hundreds of other Marine wives were doing. Making telephone calls, baby-sitting for the children whose Dad’s were in Beirut but whose fate would not be known for days, cooking, crying, praying and grieving. Everyone wanted to do something, anything to ease the pain but there was so little we could do. So we turned to the mundane, a necessary reaction to unthinkable events.
We craved information. As I watch “instant” television today, it’s almost impossible to remember what it was like to seek news but not be able to find any. In its infancy, cable news was pitiful. Only CBS had a news program but it was woefully inadequate by today’s standards. So we waited for days as casualty officers made their grim rounds throughout our community.
As The Daily News printed the names of those who had perished — day-by-day the list grew longer. Community leaders were already meeting; they too felt this enormous need to acknowledge to the loss of so many fine young men. People whom they had come to know as scout leaders, Sunday School teachers, coaches, neighbors and friends. For the first time, in a very long time, there was no “us” and “them.” Jacksonville was one city and its residents — military and civilian alike — wove a tapestry of togetherness that still exists today.
Two weeks after the bombing, hundreds gathered on the banks of the New River at Camp Lejeune to pay homage to those who died. President Reagan and his wife attended as did several injured survivors, dozens of family members, city and county officials and military personnel. Fittingly, it rained that day too, the drops mingling with the tears of those in attendance.
As time passed and we tried to pick up the threads of our lives, the community planted 241 Bradford pear trees along Lejeune Boulevard representing the lives lost that tragic Sunday. Three years later, a proud city offered up the Beirut Memorial, paid for by hundreds of small donations collected at dozens of events by tireless volunteers. It was dedicated October 23, 1986, and serves as a symbol of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.
Regrettably, we are no longer alone in our knowledge of terrorism. The list of terrorist acts is long and growing longer. We remember PanAm Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988; the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993; the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City; the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia; the embassies in Africa; the USS Cole; and of course, the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Now we add to this horror the terrorist acts in Bali and the terror caused by a lunatic killer in and around Washington, D.C.
As a nation, we continue to pray that those responsible for all of the horror are caught and brought to justice.
Still, as we remember one our our darkest moments — Oct. 23, 1983 — we also remember the caring community that wrapped its arms around its citizens and said, “We will never forget.”
And we haven’t. The Beirut Memorial is not merely a shrine, it is a beacon of hope and a prayerful gathering place. The names on the wall are personal; the phrase, “They Came In Peace” is universal. In that special place, there is peace, honor, courage and hope.
http://www.thefontman.com/
Ellie
They came in peace ... long hoped for, yet elusive
By Bonnie Throckmorton
The Jacksonville Daily News
Oct. 20, 2002
The words are etched in our minds, we who lived in Jacksonville 19 years ago. Our Marines and sailors were serving in Beirut, Lebanon, as peacekeepers. Indeed, they went that bullet-riddled den of unrest under orders; they were there as a part of some misguided foreign policy dreamed up by politicians.
In the end, 241 came home in flag-draped coffins — never to see their loved ones again. Dear God, what a tragic and unnecessary loss of life that October morning when terrorism visited Jacksonville and her citizens.
Just as the incredible blue skies, splashed with the scarlet of fire, will always represent Sept. 11 to me, the torrential rains of the wee hours of Sunday, October 23, 1983, will always bring back the Beirut bombing. It was an atypical fall day, no burning leaves, no crisp autumn weather, just a steady drumbeat of rain on the roof and the incessant ringing of the telephone.
Phone calls at 5 a.m. on a Sunday are rarely good news. To this day, I can close my eyes and remember the call. My husband, then a Marine captain, grabbed the receiver, listed for a few seconds and hung up. “What’s wrong?” I asked. He replied, “Heavy casualties in Beirut.” He was gone within minutes.
The rest of the day was spent doing what hundreds of other Marine wives were doing. Making telephone calls, baby-sitting for the children whose Dad’s were in Beirut but whose fate would not be known for days, cooking, crying, praying and grieving. Everyone wanted to do something, anything to ease the pain but there was so little we could do. So we turned to the mundane, a necessary reaction to unthinkable events.
We craved information. As I watch “instant” television today, it’s almost impossible to remember what it was like to seek news but not be able to find any. In its infancy, cable news was pitiful. Only CBS had a news program but it was woefully inadequate by today’s standards. So we waited for days as casualty officers made their grim rounds throughout our community.
As The Daily News printed the names of those who had perished — day-by-day the list grew longer. Community leaders were already meeting; they too felt this enormous need to acknowledge to the loss of so many fine young men. People whom they had come to know as scout leaders, Sunday School teachers, coaches, neighbors and friends. For the first time, in a very long time, there was no “us” and “them.” Jacksonville was one city and its residents — military and civilian alike — wove a tapestry of togetherness that still exists today.
Two weeks after the bombing, hundreds gathered on the banks of the New River at Camp Lejeune to pay homage to those who died. President Reagan and his wife attended as did several injured survivors, dozens of family members, city and county officials and military personnel. Fittingly, it rained that day too, the drops mingling with the tears of those in attendance.
As time passed and we tried to pick up the threads of our lives, the community planted 241 Bradford pear trees along Lejeune Boulevard representing the lives lost that tragic Sunday. Three years later, a proud city offered up the Beirut Memorial, paid for by hundreds of small donations collected at dozens of events by tireless volunteers. It was dedicated October 23, 1986, and serves as a symbol of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.
Regrettably, we are no longer alone in our knowledge of terrorism. The list of terrorist acts is long and growing longer. We remember PanAm Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988; the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993; the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City; the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia; the embassies in Africa; the USS Cole; and of course, the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Now we add to this horror the terrorist acts in Bali and the terror caused by a lunatic killer in and around Washington, D.C.
As a nation, we continue to pray that those responsible for all of the horror are caught and brought to justice.
Still, as we remember one our our darkest moments — Oct. 23, 1983 — we also remember the caring community that wrapped its arms around its citizens and said, “We will never forget.”
And we haven’t. The Beirut Memorial is not merely a shrine, it is a beacon of hope and a prayerful gathering place. The names on the wall are personal; the phrase, “They Came In Peace” is universal. In that special place, there is peace, honor, courage and hope.
http://www.thefontman.com/
Ellie