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Largest non-nuclear explosion on recordhits Beirut Marines, 25 years ago

"We lost a lot of Marines that day."

By Ed Marek, editor

November 16, 2008

In their own words, the Marines and Sailors who werethere

View of the remains of the Marine Battalion Landing Team headquarters andbarracks at Beirut International Airport following the enemy bomb attack,October 23, 1983. Presented by Global Security.

The enemy attack against the United States Marine BLT 1-8HQ in Beirut was executed on a Sunday, October 23, 1983.

We honor service andsacrifice. Please click the"Donate" button andcontribute $20 or more tohelp keep this station alive.Thanks.

Beirut Bombing Marines file:///Users/edmarek/Documents/Talking%20Proud/HistoryBei...

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Marines were sleeping in their tents-quarters on a Sunday morning. Videoclip from "Beirut Remembered - MarinesTV Looks Back at the Beirutbarracks bombing." Presented by defenselink.mil

Most of the Marines treated Sundays like a holiday. Theycould sleep in a bit, and go to the chow hall for a leisurely hotbreakfast. As one of very few light notes in this story, I havenoted that quite a few Marines had a most difficult timedeciding whether to stay in bed and sleep or go eat --- as itwould be for any normal GI, a tough decision!

Master Gunnery Sgt. John Nash has said:

"We really looked forward to that Sundaymorning, and the terrorists knew it."

Pfc. Gerald "Jerry" Wilkes mighthave been among the first few tosee the truck approaching. Hewas in a tent about 50 yards fromthe explosion:

"I got up early, around6:15 a.m., to go to thelatrine outside the tent. Onmy way back, I saw thisdelivery truck driving down the road about 75 feetaway. The driver was a local, from the MiddleEast. He waved to me and I waved back."

Just a short time later, as he was crawling into his sleeping bagon his cot, he heard automatic gunfire** and then a hugeexplosion. His tent collapsed. They did an accounting of theMarines in their area, and then ran to the scene:

"It was overwhelming. I had never seen death likethat. The moans and the cries of the wounded andthe dying were all around us. It sticks with you."

It wasn't until later that he realized the truck driver he waved


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to was the guy. He broke down and wept. An Iranianphotographer was there and snapped a flick, and that photolater appeared in Time magazine. In the photo above, he isholding that picture.

** I have seen several memoirs from those who were therewho say they heard automatic gunfire before the explosion.Some of them have suggested that Sgt. Russell at one of theguard posts managed to click off a few, but I have notconfirmed that any friendly fire occurred as the truck drovethrough.

Sgt. Stephen Russell, a Marinestanding guard at one of thesentry posts was among the veryfirst to see that this was noordinary truck approaching. Thetruck was coming right at him,and drove right between the twoguard posts. As instructed, hisweapons was not loaded. He grabbed his .45 caliber pistol,and stepped in front of the booth. He said he looked squarelyinto the eyes of the truck driver as he passed. The truck driverhad a smile on his face. The truck drove through Russell'sguard post splattering sand from the sandbags all over thelobby. Russell ran through the lobby, hollering, "Hit the deck.Hit the deck," and then he ran out the back of the building, justabout as the truck blew.

Russell recalls a wave of intense heat, and then would laterwake up under a cloud of gray ash. The building was down.

Cpl. Robert Calhoun was on the roof. He said he saw Russellfighting with his weapon, trying to pull out his magazine,trying to pull the bolt, and by the time he got everything inplace to fire, it was too late. The roof buckled. Calhoun was onthe roof and slid down the building on one slab to the groundand managed to walk away, with just some damage to his earsfrom the explosion. He would say:

"The explosion hit, and everything started falling.I thought, 'This is how I am going to die.' (Sgt.Russell) says just as the man went by, he'll alwaysremember, the guy was smiling."

LCpl Adam Webb was up on the roof with Calhoun, and alsoslid down the folding building. He ended up sitting upright ina jeep.

Cpl James Hines was in a tent about 20 yards away:


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"I heard somebody yell to stop the truck, then Isaw a flash of light."

Hines was submersed in the debris and dirt was falling allaround him. He managed to free his legs, kicked around,rescuers spotted his legs and pulled him out. He could havesuffocated.

Col. Geraghty was up andshaving. The explosion blew thewindows out of his billet, forcedthe doors off the hinges, andthrew him to the floor. He ranoutside, and suddenly realizedthe BLT was gone. After theexplosion, he said this toreporters on the scene,documented in a NBC video:

"It (the truck) went through two barricades,around another, and ended up in the lobby of themain complex that houses the headquarters of thebattalion landing team."

He would say this in other forums:

"I ran outside and couldn't see because of a densefog of gray ash. As I staggered around to the rearof my headquarters, I thought we had taken adirect hit from a Scud missile. My logistics officerwas right next to me, and as the fog started to lift,he said, 'My God, the BLT building is gone.'That's the battalion landing team headquarters thatwas a hundred meters from my headquarters. Andthat was the main building where we had to putour people because of the heavy artillery androcket fire that we had through the summer. Andit literally was leveled."

Lt. Col. Howard Gerlach wasthrown through the window ofhis room and out of the building,landing next to a fence. He wasbadly wounded, with a largepiece of concrete implanted inhis head, so badly hurt that hecould not be medevac'd to a shipoffshore, but instead was taken toa local hospital. He was in acoma for three days. He suffered a broken neck, damaged


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spinal cord, shattered cheek and blurred vision.

He survived, though he became a"incomplete quadriplegic" withpartial paralysis in all four limbs.He had multiple surgeries on onearm and hand, ears, face, and aplate was installed beneath hisleft eye.

He's tough though --- he candrive a car! As an aside, he hadbeen wounded in the abdomen inVietnam as well. That's him in the photo at his home, burningrubber with his wheel chair.

Marines and their Navy comrades in a neighboring buildingwere thrown out of their cots. When they managed to getoutside, they looked at the BLT HQ and said it had collapsedinto rubble, with dust-filled air all about. For many Marines,the dust was blinding.

Lee Haynes would later comment, "It's an old expression, butI felt like someone walked over my grave. It's something younever forget."

Major Bob Jordan said, "It wasthe loudest explosion I had everheard. It imploded all our doorsand windows ... It's all still veryvivid."

After the building stopped itstremors, Jordan put on his battledress, not fully aware of what hadhappened. As he walked outside,he could see. He saw parts of hiscomrades strewn about by theexplosion, many oozing blood.He watched a corporal diggingthrough the rubble, almost in adaze. The stairway was filled with debris and pulverizedcement. He saw that Marines' hands digging through forsurvivors were already raw.

Retired Marine Lt. Col Paul Roy,shown here, remembers this,sitting over at LebaneseUniversity, about two milesaway.


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He said the ground shook: "I looked up and I saw this hugemushroom cloud develop, a black cloud. It was just rising andrising and rising. And I said, 'We got hit hard.'" He called theBLT on this radio --- there was no answer.

Master Gunnery Sgt. John Nashsaid, "It blew us out of our racks.The men lay on the ground for30 or 40 minutes, afraid tomove." He was on the first floor.He had been buried alive. He andthe other corporal dugthemselves out. He suffered aconcussion and shoulder injuries.

Nash went back and forth to sickcall, taking injured Marines tothe corpsmen who were left. Hesaw wounded Marines who tried to get there themselves, butdidn't make it. Her found a bulldozer and a truck driver andtogether they organized a party to search, loading survivors ona truck.

He has also said this:

“I was awake lying in my cot. I was a corporal, atthe time, talking to the corporal next to me. Wewere discussing whether we should get up and goget some chow or just lie there. Had we gotten upfor chow, we would have died. We were the onlytwo survivors in the area ... There was so muchblack smoke you couldn’t see and all you couldhear was screaming ... There was so muchconfusion we really didn’t know what was goingon.

"We called the trail from the building to themedical center ‘the path of death’ ... We called itthat because a lot of the Marines who werewounded were trying to make it to medical. Theywere crawling missing arms and legs just trying tomake it. The path was covered in bodies of thosewho didn’t make it. We were just looking for guyswho were still alive and take them to medical.”

Cpl. Danny Joy, Corporal of the Guard with Weapons Co., 1-8Marines, was on the outer perimeter. He was just coming offduty and went to check on his men. At the time of theexplosion, he was climbing a ladder and was blown off it. Hegot up, looked through his binoculars, and saw only dust


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where the building had been. He thought his eyes were messedup. Having had little sleep over the previous days, he said:

“I was thinking, ‘My eyes are playing tricks onme. Everything was in slow motion and anotherexplosion happened, then two or three minuteslater a huge explosion. I called on the radio up toAlpha company headquarters and there was noanswer. I kept looking toward the BLT andcouldn’t see the building. I kept trying to reach(Marine Service Support Group) or somebody. Atfirst there was nothing, then it seemed likeeverybody was screaming into the radios. … Itwas chaos, utter chaos. I finally got through andtold them the BLT was gone. Their response was‘say again, your last,’ so I repeated the messageand they said ‘what are you talking about; are yousure?’”

Shock was in the air. Capt. Ronald Keene, a pilot withMedium Helicopter Squadron 162, had just relieved anotherduty officer as the Operations Duty Officer. He received themessages of the explosion and informed his unit offshore. Hegave his first casualty report of about 30, then receivedinformation the number might be more like 50. Headmonished the Marine reporting to him, asking him why hecouldn't get the number right. In response, the Marine said,Sir, you don't seem to understand, they hit the barracks ... it'sjust gone."

Tony Sutton was in a bunkerabout a half-mile away. He wastasked to collect bodies and lookfor survivors. He said that whilein his bunker, they werereceiving artillery shelling"pretty heavily, and rockets camein, w2hich were louder thanfreight trains. I went to sleep inmy bunker, fully clothed andwith my rifle, and I felt veryuneasy." He then went on to say

"It knocked me off my cot. And radios got blownacross the bunker ... We heard over the radio, 'It'sgone.' And it literally was. The four-story tallbuilding had just pan caked into a 15- to20-foot-tall pile of cement ... There was a guyabout 100 yards away that had just been blownout the windows of the BLT building. There was asergeant who had been in the service for over 25


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years and was due to retire; I found him in themiddle of the night. I saw many things that can'tbe unseen."

Pvt. John Hlywiak had been complaining that the Marinesweren't seeing enough action, until the explosion threw him upin the air. An engineer, he went outside, grabbed a forklift, anddrove through the smoke and flames to help dig out, one of thefirst pieces of rescue equipment to get there. For starters, hepulled out a dead Marine. Then he uncovered another who hadcrushed legs but would survive. He has commented, "All daylong I was picking up arms and legs and bone and pieces ofskin. It seemed like it would never end." He complained thatLebanese looters were all over the place stealing rings andwatches from the dead Marines. The sergeants had to stop theyounger Marines from shooting them. But Hylwiak would say,"But we did get to put some boots in their asses."

Lt. Chuck Pfarrer, USN, a NavySEAL assigned to the MNF, wasat Green Beach, about 500 yardsaway from the explosion. He anda SEAL squad had justcompleted a reconnaissancemission into the foothills aboveBeirut, came under some artilleryfire on their exit from the area, sothey were tired and decided to goto sleep. He has written this:

"So a few minutes beforesunrise, we fell into ourcots -- then a thuddingshock wave tore through our bunker. Thedetonation had nearly vaporized the four-storyheadquarters building. The explosion could beheard in the city of Sidron, 30 miles south. In theminutes after, chaos reigned. No one had any ideaif the truck bomb was a precursor to a move bythe Syrian Army, or if the airport would sooncome under general attack. In one stroke, the 24thMarine Amphibious Unit had lost almost aquarter of its men ashore.

"We worked all day to dig the wounded and deadfrom the rubble as sniper rounds cracked andspattered the concrete around us; militiamen inthe slums surrounding the airport fired on therescuers at will. Late in the afternoon, I wascalled back to the beach, and I walked across therunway to catch a helicopter. On the tarmac the


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dead were laid out in neat lines, wrapped in nylonponcho liners and the shredded, gore-splatteredsleeping bags in which they had died.

"In the days that followed it was almostimpossible to feel grief. The horror was sooverwhelming that we became frozen to it. Thethinnest cordon of Marines now held the airport.The mountains above us bristled with artillery; wewere outnumbered by at least five to one. It wasonly the resolve, tenacity and courage ofindividual marines that stood between us andAlamo time. The survivors clung together, everyman aware that we were thousands of miles awayfrom help or mercy. We held out untilreinforcements from Camp Lejeune, N.C., arrivedtwo days later, and were home by Thanksgiving."

LCpl. John L'Heureux was on the roof as a forward observer.His job was to spot the shells coming from offshore US shipsand spot and report where they struck. He rode the crashingroof down when the explosion struck. He broke his pelvis andhis foot, and debris rammed into his rectum. He would laterneed liver surgery and a colostomy. The docs sewed his leftear back on.

First Lt. Glenn Dolphincommented that "all our bunkersaround the perimeter of ourbuilding just collapsed. The blastwas so devastating, it blew birdsout of the sky --- just killed themdead." Dolphin would go on towrite a book, 24 MAU, 1983: AMarine looks back at thepeacekeeping mission to Beirut,Lebanon.

Dolphin was sleeping over at the MAU HQ. He recalls:

"I was sleeping next to a door – a steel door –which was a supply closet. Behind it were filtersfor gas masks, hoses and tubing – stuff that usedto be for the fire-fighters at the airport. The blastblew the steel door through the doorjamb, hittingme in the back, on the left side. Everything in ourbuilding went airborne. The glass came out theskylight, concrete and plaster off the interior –anything that wasn’t nailed down just took off.And then, just like magic, and all of a suddenbecause of the vacuum, it all came back again.


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"I looked down the street towards the BLT, and itwas all smoky, and there was a lot of wreckagelaying about. And then I saw these Marines, andthey were walking around aimlessly, somecompletely naked – their clothes blown off …three Marines I saw, one with his eye hanging onhis cheek, who were being taken to an aid stationwere all torn up. They looked like they had beensandblasted … another Marine was on the ground.His arm was broken and it was just hanging there.I tried to get a hold of him, but my back waskilling me, and I said ‘listen kid, you’re going tohave to walk’. And I watched as he walkedbarefoot through all the glass.”

Major Gregory Balzer (Ret.) had gone over to the presidentialpalace the day prior to the attack. It was about a mile away. Herecalls, "I woke up to the loudest noise you ever heard. Then Iheard a second explosion (probably at the French barracks) ...Utter destruction; you just can't believe the force of the blast."

SSgt Randy Gaddo, aphotojournalist at the time, andnow a retired Chief WarrantOfficer 4, got up early as heneeded to process some film. Hewalked over to a tent about 250yards away from the buildingwhen the bomb blew. He said itthrew him back six feet. I've seenseveral statements by him, and have attempted to meld themtogether:

"It was a quiet morning, quieter than usual. Thebirds were singing, there was no gunfire in thehills around us. I was halfway into the one-minutewalk to the barracks when I decided it was toonice a morning to start working before I had a cupof coffee.

"The BLT was about a minute's walk from my(sleeping quarters) ... I heard M-16 (service rifle)fire inside our compound ... As I got ready toleave my tent ... before I could comprehend why... I heard and felt this thud followed by anexplosion, which picked me up threw me backlike I was a rag doll ... I heard the loudestexplosion I’d ever heard in my life. A second laterI felt a rush of warm air on my face ... It felt likesomeone had hit me in the chest with a baseballbat … I thought we’d been hit by a rocket or


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artillery, so after I got up I ran outside to check itout, and expected to find a large crater. But as Ilooked over towards the barracks, I saw this bigmushroom cloud rising up…and then as I lookeddown, I saw human remains, and that’s when Iknew that something really bad had happened.

"It was an amazing concussion. It was likesomebody hit me with a two-by-four. I could feelmy face being pushed back as the shock waveapproached ... What had normally been afour-story building was down to a story and a halfof rubble. The dust was all still rising and itstarted to all become clear ... There was a lot ofchaos. We were all in shock. You go through awhole range of emotions. We lost a lot of Marinesthat day.

"I stepped out of the tent and saw a giantmushroom cloud rising several hundred feet in theair in the direction of the barracks. I was stilldazed but ran in that direction and noticed that theleaves on all the trees and bushes were on theground.

"The dust and smoke was still rising but gray dustsuspended in the air gave the scene almost adreamlike appearance. Things seemed to go intoslow motion. Where I should have seen thebarracks I could see the air terminal of the BeirutInternational Airport. Then I focused closer andrealized that the barracks was gone. A four storyconcrete and rebar reinforced building was simplygone and a 20-foot pile of smoldering rubble wasleft in its place.

"I saw a boot on the ground nearby. Everythingwas covered with thick gray concrete powder. Iwent to the boot and realized there was a leg in it.As I tried to uncover the leg, I found that it wasconnected to a torso, and nothing else.”


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First Lieutenant Claude Davis III was the adjutant for the 24thMAU, and was catching up on paperwork at the MAU HQ,about 100 meters from the BLT building. He heard and felt theexplosion, walked outside, and saw these things:

“As I walked outside and went to investigate theexplosion, I was a little shocked. It was prettychaotic, people were screaming and yelling, and Ireally still didn’t know what had happened. As Iwalked along, I continued to hear screams andsirens and I could see a lot of smoke. I walked onand came to this divide. There were magnificentolive trees that separated the road between mybuilding and the BLT. I noticed the sun wasbeaming on me and I had to take a second glanceto make sure I was in the right spot. Normally atthis time the sun was blocked. I passed throughthe trees and saw the mass hysteria. The buildingwas in flames and much of it was rock and smokeon the ground. Papers were floating around in theair. As I looked around, I realized there wereMarines still in their sleeping bags up in the treesI had just walked through. Walking along, I couldsmell the explosives and bodies.”

CPO Joe Ciokon, a Navybroadcaster, was in his sleepingquarters about 50 yards awayfrom the BLT, walked out andchoked in the dust. He recalls:

"We thought we'd been hitby an artillery shell. I hadbeen asleep – it was nearly


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6:30am, and as it was a Sunday I had decided tohave a lie-in – and the next I knew, the wallbulged out and hit me. That's when the bombwent off. I caught a lot of the blast and literallyflew across the room, but on my way down to thefloor I had the presence of mind to grab myhelmet and flak-jacket, which I put on beforeducking under a table. My lieutenant came out ofthe smoke – his nose was bleeding, his ears werebleeding – and he had obviously been concussedpretty bad. When I got outside, and into the fog, Irealized that it was the dust from the BLT, andwhat we were looking at was the buildingflattened. We could now see the airport and the(air traffic control) tower. Before that we couldn't,because it was blocked by BLT. That was a bigshock.

"My team and I were back on (the radio airwaves)within two hours, though television took two orthree days to get back on air. I didn't realize howimportant (our broadcasting was) until a few dayslater, when some of the Marines said that whenwe came back on air, it was like a beacon ofhope."

Sgt John Selbe was supposed tostand guard duty that morning atthe front of the BLT building, at8 am. He woke up at 6 am, andwould later comment:

"I was sitting theresmoking a cigarette, and Iheard this bang. I leanedfor my gear at the base of my cot and I heard avoice say, 'John, lay back down.' When I did, Ifell through the floor."

He laid there for some four hours, paralyzed on his left sidefrom the waist up. His arm was wrapped around his head andhe didn't even know it. He said, "Something told me to curl upin a ball." Others finally dug him out. He had glass in his earand to this day still has concrete in his back and a scar on hishead. He served out 21 years and retired.

LCpl Terence J. Valore, Selbe's friend, was burned over 95percent of his body and is 100 percent disabled. Selbe foundhim in the burn unit and fed him because he could not do ithimself. Valore was above the guard shack when the truck hit.He has said, "I was talking to a friend, and I turned away from


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the parade deck. Then I heard someone say, 'car bomb' and Icovered my face. That's why I am here today. Every scar Ihave on my body came from Beirut, Lebanon."

First Lieutenant Chuck Dallachiewas sleeping and woke up oncethe bomb exploded. The firstthing he noticed was not thesound of the explosion, but thewhite smoke, so thick was thedust he could barely breathe. Hewas caught between his metalbed, which was contorted, with aslab of concrete resting acrosshis chest, one arm pinned underhis head. He could not move. Then he felt the building movingabout, shifting, and his feet were pushed over his head.

The Marines got to him and got him out. He was flown over tothe Iwo Jima. He came-to on board. A chaplain came by toadminister him last rites. His lung was collapsed, his gallbladder damaged, with gashes over his body, a hole throughone arm and his feet were burned. They got him medevac'dout by an USAF C-9 "Nightingale." During the flight, themedics prepared him for abdominal surgery and his gallbladder and spleen were removed in Germany the night of thebombing. He survived, rose to the rank of colonel, and nowcommands the Marine base at Quantico.

Bryan Westrick was in a building at the airport about 150yards away. He recalls this:

"I was trying to get those last 2-3 minutes of sleep... It blew me 10 feet off my cot ... I thought wetook a direct hit - we've been receiving small armsfire every day. Coming around the corner, thatbuilding stood tall, and now it wasn't there."

Emanuel Simmons was sleepingon the second floor of the BLTbuilding. First the explosion, andthen he was buried in the rubble.One arm pinned, he tried to findthe other one, and he found hishand, happy knowing the docswould sew it back on. They gothim out, but when he woke up inthe hospital, he was temporarilyparalyzed, suffered severe burns,had one lung collapsed, and otherinjuries. He would end up


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serving the Marines for 26 years,rising to the rank of MasterSergeant (E-8).

LCpl Mike Toma was sleeping on the first floor about 100 ft.from the explosion. Lying under the debris, he could see anarrow line of light, but he could not hear, as his eardrum wasshattered. He felt dust falling on his face, and figured someonewas coming to get him. He was one of the first Marines foundand rescued alive. His injuries included a collapsed lung, theloss of an eardrum and perforation of the other, a hip injuryand cuts and abrasions. He was vomiting blood and had bloodin his urine. He later recalled:

"We had been getting hit with artillery and Ithought it just hit our side of the building. Theypulled me out and I saw the sky. At that point Irealized the building was gone."

Bernard Manly was also sleeping. He woke up upside downbetween two slabs of concrete. He said he could see trucksdriving through a hole in the wreckage, and then he could seeMarines digging for him:

"I didn't know what had happened. One Marinelooked down and said to me, ‘You're one luckyson of a bitch!'"

Cpl. Michael Corrigan was aradio operator and was aboardthe Iwo Jima for some rest andrelaxation (R&R) when the bombhit. He spent the first day helpingthe corpsmen deal with thewounded being brought back toship. He called them the"walking wounded." Some wereon stretchers, others on cots, andsome were just walking around trying to deal with what justhappened. Then, he was sent to shore to help with the search,rescue and recovery efforts. He said, "It was overwhelming. Iwas numb. We all were."

PO3 Steve Brown, a corpsman on the scene, said he ran out ofbandages within minutes. Danny Joy would say:

“The docs...the only docs left, were these youngkids. But without those Corpsmen, we wouldhave lost so many more.”

Cpl. Neale Bolen was under the debris:


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“I thought maybe an RPG had hit. Then I guesspeople began to come to because I could hearthem beneath the rubble. I knew I was trapped ... Iwas buried underneath there for awhile, and Istarted to panic. But then I heard the Marines uptop. I knew they wouldn’t leave me. I told myself,‘They’re Marines, they’ll get me.’”

They did. But first they had to punch holes through theconcrete. They then attached chains to a crane to separate theconcrete. Lebanese worked side-by-side with the Marines, andthey pulled him out. He said later:

“Oh, I was pretty messed up ... I was crispylooking,”

Michael Pocalyko, navy pilot,was aloft on a reconnaissancemission about 25 miles north ofBeirut at the time of the attack.At the time of the attack, he wasthe only Navy helicopter in theair. He recovered aboard ship andlearned of the bombing then. Hesaid his journal noted the following:

"My journal that day talks about the dead. Somany dead at this time, so many dead at this time,and the numbers just kept going up. It was outsideof anyone's expectations that a suicide bombingwould occur."

All was quiet for air crews aboard the USS Iwo Jima offshore.It was a Sunday and their day off. Then the call came in. Theyknew this was not good. A helicopter launched and returned,reporting that the BLT HQ was "gone, it's no longer there."


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A CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter from Medium Helicopter Squadron 365takes off as a second Sea Knight prepares to take off from the flight deck ofthe USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) July 21, 2006. The multipurpose amphibiousassault ship was part of a mission to assist U.S. citizens in their departurefrom Lebanon. Photo credit: Mass Communication Specialist 1st ClassRobert J. Fluegel, USN. Presented by The Tension blogspot.

One Marine would say that the Marines of HMM-162 wentfrom "zero to hell." The crews jumped out of bed and intoaction. They had to reconfigure their CH-46 helicopters tohold stretchers. They launched two search and rescuehelicopters sitting alert right away. Six more helicopters wereprepared to get the wounded and then the killed, and thosewho remained aboard prepared to receive injured. Sailorsaboard the ships cared for the wounded, many just stayingwith each Marine, holding his hand, making sure no one wasleft alone.


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A chaplain at the site of the bombing. Presented by popasmoke.

Chaplain Danny Weaver woke up after the blast, felt dust onhis lips, and he could not move, trapped by a collapsed wall.His arms were free, but his legs were pinned. He could not situp all the way and cut his head on support rods. He yelled toGod for help, then sang "Amazing Grace" to calm down. Hewould not close his eyes. He could barely breathe under therubble. Fortunately for him, another chaplain spotted Weaver'spurple religious scarf. This chaplain hollered down into thedebris, Weaver's voice was by this time gone, so he tapped ona box of meals lying there as much as he could. The chaplainpulled him out and other Marines carried him away fortreatment.

I believe he was the last to be rescued alive and survive.

Sgt. John Snyder was with HMM-162, the CH-53E SuperStallions. He would write this about the bombing, a day onwhich he was aboard the USS Iwo Jima:

"As it was announced that there had been anattack on the Marine barracks, none of us had anyidea of the extent of the damage, the lives that hadbeen lost, or the fact that the growing cloud ofdark smoke on the shore line was what was left ofwhere we had, only weeks before, eaten chowevery day.


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"Wave after wave of our squadron's helicoptersflew ashore, each time returning with bodieswhich quickly stacked up on the hanger deckbelow decks. Many of us were tasked withcarrying the dead and wounded, and helping outas best we could; holding a hand here and thereand trying to calm those who could not becalmed.

"I remember watching one Marine, a victim whohad a small sliver penetrate his temple, withswollen purple eyelids that for some reason gaveme the impression of a frog. As I held his hand,he slipped into unconsciousness. I later learnedthat he had died.

"It was a very sad, busy, and chaotic time. As theextent of the disaster ashore was realized, thesquadron called for a working party to go ashore.I jumped at the opportunity to get off the IwoJima, and volunteered. If I had known what theworking party would entail I would never havevolunteered.

"A handful of us, maybe 10 or so, flew by CH-46helicopter back out to the airport to an areaknown LS (Landing Site) Brown. I didn't reallyhave any idea at that point the amount of damagethat had been done. I didn't really know what toexpect. All I knew was some Marines had beenhurt and Top was looking for some volunteers.

"LS Brown, like Rockbase, was situated on theedge of the tarmac at the Beirut InternationalAirport. Nothing more than a small, run down,empty hanger. LS Brown was only a few hundredyards from the blast site, and the staging point forall the bodies that were recovered from what wasleft of the Marine barracks. A small road ranalong the left side of the hanger which went up tothe still-smoking ruins, which only hours beforehad housed fellow Marines.

"Our working party worked out of, and around,the small, empty Lebanese hanger, and truckswould bring the bodies of the dead from the blastsite, down the road and to the hanger. My job wasto unload and stack the bodies as they werebrought down the road from the blast site. Wewould then, with great care, stack the bodies --some in body bags, some not -- into aluminum


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shipping containers which we would eventuallyload on aircraft for their final flight home.

"I recall the sadness and anger we felt that day,but moreover, I recall the care that we took withour fallen brothers. Each body was treated withgreat care. Despite the fact that most had comefrom other units and were, for the most part,strangers, each body was treated with greatdignity and with the respect and love normallyreserved for the dearest fallen family member. Noorders had to be given, no one had to take charge,in fact, to my knowledge it was never evenspoken of."

The goal aboard the Iwo Jima was to receive, triage, treat,stabilize, and evacuate, then prepare for the next batch tocome in. Once medevac aircraft arrived at Beirut, thewounded were flown by helicopter to meet those aircraft.

The total number of wounded was 112, of whom seven woulddie. Of these, 62 were brought to the Iwo Jima. The doctorsaboard her did perform some surgeries. The USAF C-9launched from Incirlik, Turkey, and used Beirut airport. TheRAF also provided a C-130, a Navy C-9 came from Italy, andan USAF C-141 was the last to get there. The injured weretaken to the RAF Hospital, Akrotiri, Cyprus, USN Hospital,Naples, Landstuhl Army Hospital and Wiesbaden Air ForceHospital, Germany. The RAF hospital proved to be especiallyuseful; it was closer than the others, and it was included in theNavy's evacuation plans.

Lt. David Hough was there, 2/B/1-8 Marines, positioned in thesoutheast perimeter of the airport. He recalls looking out at the


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scene watching at least 16 different factions fighting eachother and everyone else in the hills. In 2003, he was a colonel.

He made a comment at the time that says awhole bunch about the US Marine Corpsand our military in general:

"There's nothing more amazing than alance corporal. They're the guys that get it done,and their level of professionalism and loyalty isunsurpassed. They take their job very, veryseriously."

A lance corporal is pay grade E-3. Next time you see a man orwoman in uniform with that chevron on, go over and thankthem for their service.

Introduction

Historical background

24th MAU arrives in Beirut, 1-8 Marines embarked

In their own words, the Marines and Sailors who were there

Photos of the devastation

The first duty is to remember - The 25th Remembrance

Those who were there provide us some advice


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