Marine Corps 250th Birthday
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Happy Birthday Marines!
As our glorious Marine Corps celebrates its 250th birthday, it is a great time to reflect on our role in Marine Corps history..
Marines in Beirut (1982-1984).18 months...yes,1...8 months of Marine Corps history. Like our title, Marine, no one can take that away! We own that history and it is uniquely ours. No one will ever be more passionate or emotional when they talk about their tour in Lebanon. It doesn't matter if you were the first Marine on land in 1982 or the last one to leave in 1984. Each one of US Marines, including the Air Force, Navy, and Army played a vital role in this part of history. We have all done a great job at our" first duty to remember". When we arrived back at Morehead City on December 7th 1983, it was the 42nd year anniversary of the bombing at Pearl harbor. Today it's 42 years since we got back from that mission. We have all been gifted with three times the life, life of our perished Brothers. However, many or few years we have left, how will Beirut veterans be remembered? Some of us have never fully recovered from our time in Lebanon. Many of our brothers and sisters in the Beirut family continue to carry both pain and anguish from the suffering we survived. All of us have 42 years experience carrying the rubble. All of us have 42 years helping our brothers and their families out of the rubble. The world we live in now is full of terror. The world needs us now more than ever to help them carry their own rubble! Now is our time to come together as one unit and help each other and the rest of the world find peace. I believe that is our next duty, our next mission. Every one of us and our stories are like sand in a sandbag. Each story can build a bunker that would make any combat engineer proud! Continue to tell the Beirut story any way you can and any opportunity you can create. We have always been peacekeepers and now we are called to lead by example.
Every Marine need not look any further than the nearest mirror to reflect his or her role in Marine Corps history. Our history is not just the past, but what we continue to pass on to future generations.
Blessed be the peacekeepers.
Semper Fi
Mike Zawacki, President
Beirut Veterans of America
Beirut Veterans of America
PO Box 1011
Fairport Harbor, OH 44077-1011
