I think the main reason Brian and I decided to start the Danger Zone project is because we never forget that there are patriots of this country we call home that have sacrificed everything so that we can be free. We never forget.
One of the days I'll never forget is October 23rd, 1983. I had just walked into the kitchen to grab something to eat when I heard someone on the news say "Marines" on the TV in the next room. I stopped what I was doing and walked into the living room where my pop was watching the evening news. What I saw were images of a building that looked like it had been devastated by something but, at 14 years of age, I didn't have a frame of reference to recognize that it had just been hit by a truck bomb. It was an image so foreign to me that my immediate reaction was stunned silence.
The news anchor went on to say that a suicide bomber (now referred to as a homicide bomber) had driven a truck full of explosives in to the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. 241 U.S. Service Members were killed in the attack. 220 Marines, 18 Sailors and 3 Soldiers.
When the anchor moved on to the next story I went back to the kitchen, opened the fridge and just stood there for a moment just staring. I wasn't looking for anything. I just stared. Soaking in what I had just seen.
I closed the fridge, walked out the back door to our barn, picked up an ax and started splitting wood. The more wood I split the more I thought about it: 241. The more I thought about it the more pissed off I got. If I could have joined that day I would have. All I wanted to do was go to Beirut and find those responsible for what they had done.
Four years later I was in the School of Infantry on Camp Pendleton in the United States Marine Corps.
During training I remember hearing over and over about what happened to the Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in Beirut. It was an act of terror that cost 241 lives and that we should never forget.
Never forget.
So here's to our brothers in arms whose lives were taken 28 years ago today.
We will never forget. We will never forgive.
Semper Fidelis
Deus Vult
NEVER FORGET!!! We owe it to all of our fallin warriors. Never forget the sacrifices that these outstanding individuals paid so that our country can remain free...
ReplyDeleteNever Forget, or ALWAYS REMEMBER! For those fallen, the loved ones left behind, those who've served, and those currently enduring. There are many of us who believe as we do, and we must remain passive and silent NO MORE! We must remind our citizens and the world that WE ARE A GREAT NATION, and that FREEDOM is truly NOT FREE! FREEDOM is worth the price paid. It is worth, living, fighting, and dying for!!!
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