Day of Remembrance for Marines killed in Beirut in 1982

Warrant Officer Charles W. “Bill” Henderson, Sgt. Steve Whitfield, Sgt. Dave Leutenberger, GySgt. Steve Merrill, SSgt. Jim Hickman, Major Fred “Flash” Lash, Sgt. Eugene Groh, and Cpl Kevin Lane. (Photo by David Hume Kennerley)

For every Marine who served in Beirut from 1982 through 1984, today is our Memorial Day. It is our Day of Remembrance. On October 23, 1983 an Islamic Terrorist drove a massive truck bomb into a building where several hundred of our brothers slept on a Sunday morning, and killed 241 of them. I warrant to you that this attack and the attack of April 18, 1983 against our United States Embassy in Beirut , truly represent the opening assaults by the enemy in today’s Global War on Terrorism.

I had served in Beirut earlier that year, and had gone home in early summer, 1983. When the tragic attack of October 23rd took place, I was ordered to Dover Air Force Base to stand duty as a liaison officer and help bring our fallen brothers home. Many of those killed, I knew. A few I knew quite well, and were my friends. I met their bereaved families. Therefore, the poignancy of this day for me has many faces and visible lives tied to it.

I am quite confident that every Marine from every generation also shares the heartache of the loss of our brothers that October day in 1983. We are a family, a brotherhood and sisterhood bonded by blood. He that would shed his blood with me, he is my brother, to paraphrase Shakespeare. Therefore, today is meaningful to all Marines present and past.

In honor of our brothers killed in action in Beirut on October 23, 1983, I ask you to consider a prayer today. Not for the fallen. They have made their ways to Heaven’s streets, and now stand by for the rest of us to join them there. But say a prayer for their families. Ask God to bless and keep them, and fill their hearts with hope. Comfort them for their loss. I ask that you also say a prayer for our brothers and sisters that today stand the watch and tramp the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq , as well as other dangerous places around the globe. Our brothers and sisters are under fire right now, and they need our unyielding support and our sincere prayers.

What better way to honor our Beirut fallen today than to pray for and support the men and women who at this very hour face hostile fire.

Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas — Charles W. “Bill” Henderson