In early 1983, the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit was deployed from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to Beirut, Lebanon. They were sent as part of the peacekeeping force originally inserted the previous year into the conflict raging there between Christian and Muslim factions.
On the morning of October 23, 1983, 38 years ago today, an explosives-laden truck driven by a suicide bomber destroyed the headquarters building of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, killing 241 Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers and wounding more than 100 others. Minutes later, a second truck drove into a barracks building housing French peacekeeping forces and detonated, killing 58 French paratroopers and wounding 15 others.
The bombing resulted in the highest single-day death toll for the Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II, and the costliest day for U.S. military forces since the first day of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The harsh lessons imparted on that fateful Sunday morning in 1983 resonate today. They remain relevant even as American military personnel continue to stand in harm’s way around the world.
The following poem is cast in bronze at the official national Beirut Memorial near Camp Lejeune:
THE OTHER WALL
It does not stand in Washington
By others of its kind
In prominence and dignity
With mission clearly defined.
It does not list the men who died
That tyranny should cease
But speaks in silent eloquence
Of those who came in peace.
This Other Wall is solemn white
And cut in simple lines
And it nestles in the splendor
Of the Carolina pines.
And on this wall there are the names
Of men who once had gone
In friendship’s name offer aid
To Beirut, Lebanon.
They did not go as conquerors
To bring a nation down
Or for honor or for glory
Or for praises or renown.
When they landed on that foreign shore
Their only thought in mind
Was the safety of its people
And the good of all mankind.
Though they offered only friendship
And freedom’s holy breath
They were met with scorn and mockery
And violence and death.
So the story of their glory
Is not the battles fought
But of their love for freedom
Which was so dearly bought.
And their Wall shall stand forever
So long as freedom shines
On the splendor and the glory
Of the Carolina pines.
— Robert A. Gannon
The Fog of Ward. 