Friends, family remember 15th anniversary
By C. Mark Brinkley

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.
   Time may be the greatest healer of all, but 15 years has not been enough.
   The time has done little to ease the pain of those who lost loved ones in the Oct. 23, 1983 terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.
   They continue to make the pilgrimage to Camp Lejeune each year on the anniversary of the day when 241 Marines and sailors of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines were killed.
   Camp Lejeune's Beirut Memorial Park was filled Oct. 23, on the 15th anniversary of the bombing, with hundreds of mothers and fathers, survivors and friends - each looking to put the past behind them.
   Some found comfort, others sobbed quietly, but few were able to forgive or forget.
   Friends and family members gathered around the granite wall of the memorial, which contains the name of each man killed in the blast, and few left without touching the engraving that proclaims "They came in peace."
   "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about the Marines, sailors and soldiers I served with. They gave their all," said retired Lt. Col. Larry Gerlach, 1/8's commanding officer at the time. Gerlach was crippled by the blast and is confined to a wheelchair.
   "I don't think there's ever any closure," he said. "There's always that empty spot."

Memories relived
   Family members and friends held a personal candlelight vigil at 6 a.m. at the memorial park.
   The Marine Corps held a public ceremony three hours later, and Marine commandant Gen. Charles C. Krulak assured the hundreds of visitors that the men had not been forgotten.
   "Each one of us here remembers that terrible day," Krulak said. "We remember the shock and the disbelief. We remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard the first reports . . . When we close our eyes, when we listen with our hearts, we can still see their faces."
   Also in attendance was former commandant Gen. Al Gray, who did not speak during the ceremony but consoled many families afterward.
   Retired Maj. Bob Jordan, a Beirut survivor who is now the founding president of the Beirut Veterans of America, attended the ceremony as well.
   Jordan was the Defense Department's spokesman in Lebanon in 1983.
   "We come, many of us, to heal our troubled souls," Jordan told the audience. "Those of us who survived left a part of our hearts over there. We are incomplete. Beirut will live forever in our memories."
   As the sound of "Taps" poured from a Marine sergeant's trumpet to end the ceremony, many in the audience wept and clung to one another for support.
   Some left feeling better, but few felt whole.
   "Over the years, it does get easier," said Judy Young, whose 22-year-old son, Sgt. Jeffery Young, was killed in the bombing.
   "I stayed home last year, and I won't do that again. I will either be here or in Washington, at the ceremony in Arlington."
   Others shared Young's need to be with those affected by the event.
   "It's good to be with all of the families," said Barbara Rockwell, whose 20-year-old son Cpl. Michael Sauls was killed. "It's easier when you are with them because you know what they are going through. It brings us together."
   She has yet to miss a service.
   "It's cold today, but it's been colder," she said.
   "I've been here through the wind, the rain. And. I'll keep coming back."
   So might Missy Garmon, a banker from Charlotte, N.C., who lost two friends in the bombing but had never attended the annual memorial ceremony before this year.
   "I think this is closure," Garmon said. "It's just not something that people understand. It wasn't my husband or brother or anything like that. They were just my friends. But we can't let people forget that this thing happened."