The Globe Header
trees
Marines, community will never forget

BY PFC Matthew S. Bates
Camp Lejeune Correspondent

America remembers Oct. 23, 1983, as the day it lost more than 200 good men. For anyone who wears the eagle, globe and anchor and claims the title Marine, it is especially important as the day they lost more than 200 brothers.
It was a bomb that took them while they slept, the opportunity to fight back or even stare death in the face denied them.
They did not make war. They were simply victims of it, in the honorable attempt to keep the peace. They had been called upon by their country to go to the shores of a distant land and maintain peace and keep order. Without a second thought or a questioning look, they went, some leaving behind wives, some children. These men were more than Marines there were coaches and fathers, husbands and neighbors - but when the call to duty rose, they rose with it.
In a society where all to often drive and initiative are lacking, these men knew who they were, what they were doing, and in both instances performed a service to their country.
As Dr. Kenneth Morrison wrote in the aftermath of the blast while he waited to hear if his son was among the dead, "In a world where we speak of human rights, there is a sad lack of acceptance of responsibility. My son has chosen the acceptance of responsibility for the privilege of living in this country. Certainly in this country, one does not inherently have rights unless the responsibility for those rights is accepted."
These men, along with all others who have ever donned the uniform of a United States armed service, understood that degree of responsibility. They did not have to be there, any one of them could have instead been a doctor, a lawyer or even an anti-militarian who spent the majority of his hours picketing the local military installation. Yet, they had decided to be among those who defend their country and its ideals against the oppressions of dictators and terrorists who have the potential to thrive and threaten America's shores.
Each one of their number who crossed the shores of Lebanon became an ambassador of America, a job most assumed unknowingly. There was not a famous member among them - no Noble Prize winners, no movie stars - but with every drop of sweat and wince of pain they made more secure the freedoms that those stars and geniuses enjoyed.
Freedom is not something that is worked for once and won forever. In order to keep it, it must be worked for and sacrificed for just as long as it is wanted. These men understood that as well, and made it possible for their children to enjoy the pleasure of working for it, that it too may be theirs to keep.

Yes, they died, but it was not in vain. For just as our forefathers of old purchased this land and its freedoms with their own blood, so too these men retained it for this nation with theirs. The gift these men gave was of the ultimate quality and of such a value that it cannot be given again.
Then President Ronald Reagan said in a speech a few days after the bombing, "They were not afraid to stand up for their country or, no matter how difficult and slow the journey might be, to give to others that last, best hope of a better future. We cannot and will not dishonor them now and the sacrifices they've made by failing to remain as faithful to the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace as they have been."
It is in the words of Tom Vormwald, a Marine who survived the bombing, that best describes who these men were, and always will be.
"I was that which others did not want to be, I went where others feared to go and did what others failed to do, I asked nothing from those that gave nothing and reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness should I fail, I have cried, pained, and hoped, but most of all I have lived times others would say are best forgotten. At least one day I can be proud of what I was and will always be ..... a United States Marine."

wreath

Keeping their memory alive

March 24, 1983: The 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, stationed at Camp Lejeune, receives orders to Beirut, Lebanon.

Oct. 23, 1983: Bombing kills 241 American servicemen in Beirut. Most are Marines from the 24th MAU.

March 24, 1984: Dedication takes place along Lejeune Boulevard, where one tree was planted for each lost serviceman.

Oct. 23, 1986: The completed Beirut Memorial is dedicated.

Oct. 22, 1988: The statue near the memorial is dedicated.

Oct. 23, 1991: The poem, The Other Wall, written by Robert A Gannon, a Korean War veteran, is cast in bronze and dedicated.