Once in a while, I’m inspired to research and write about something that I’m personally connected to. This is one of those incidents. On October 23, 1983, the Marine barracks in Beirut was bombed. The country lost 241 heroes, and Connecticut lost eight. 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and 3 soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice while on a peacekeeping mission. It was the greatest loss of life for the United States Marine Corps in one day since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.
In the Air Force for just over a year, I was stationed at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), which served as the NATO’s military headquarters. As a telecommunications center operator, my job was to transmit and receive messages for mostly flag officers of the United States military. That was my first experience of death and loss on a large scale. The day will stay with me forever.
In 1982, an Army major from Bridgeport (Trumbull High School) was killed. A jeep he was riding in hit a landmine, also killing three others to include an Air Force officer. In 1985, Navy Seabee Robert Stethem was a passenger on a commercial flight when it was hijacked. All of the American active duty and veteran military personnel on the hijacked plane were identified. Robert Stethem, born in Waterbury, Connecticut, was singled out, beaten, murdered, and his body left on the tarmac at Beirut International Airport.
These ten heroes can never be forgotten. As time goes by, it’s my sincere hope that the country, Connecticut, and these heroes’ hometowns, never forget their service and sacrifice.
Many thanks to those family members, reporters, and those connected to the incident who contributed to my story of those 10 heroes. We need to do our part to carry on the legacy of those lost.
A document about their lives and service can be read
Honor Norwalk CT veterans 