October 23, TODAY as we go through our day I ask that we all pause a moment to remember 30 years ago today 241 American servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers lost their lives in a cowardly terrorist attack in Beirut, Lebanon. At around 6:22 a.m., a 19 ton, yellow, Mercedes-Benz stake-bed truck drove to the Beirut International Airport (BIA), where the U.S. 24th Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) was deployed. The truck was not the water truck they had been expecting. Instead, it was a hijacked truck carrying explosives. The suicide bomber, an Iranian national named Ismail Ascari, reached the entry way at 6:22 and detonated his explosives, which were later estimated to be equivalent to approximately 9525 kg (21,000 pounds) of TNT. The force of the explosion initially lifted the entire four-story structure, shearing the bases of the concrete support columns, each measuring fifteen feet in circumference and reinforced by numerous one-and-three-quarter-inch steel rods. Organized rescue efforts began immediately—within three minutes of the bombing—and continued for days. Many Lebanese civilians voluntarily joined the rescue effort. At about noon Sunday, October 23, the last survivor was pulled from the rubble; he was LTJG Danny G. Wheeler, Lutheran chaplain for BLT 1/8. Other men survived beyond Sunday, but they succumbed to their injuries before they could be extracted from the rubble. By Wednesday, the majority of the bodies and body parts had been recovered from the stricken barracks, and the recovery effort ended on Friday. REMEMBER THEM!!!! GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN!!!
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 13:23:09 +0000
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