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When reflecting on times of national tragedy, we have adopted a common question: Where were you? Where were you when the second plane hit the World Trade Center? Where were you when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated? It is rare that the person on the other side of that question will respond with, "I was there." But for three Lowcountry residents, that statement is true.
Review: Sitting Ducks - Examining the brutal attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut In April 1982, as troops prepared to deploy to Beirut, Lebanon, President Ronald Reagan tasked them with being "peacemakers" as they worked with a multinational force to restore order in the region. That peacekeeping mission proved to be anything but. The events that followed in 1983 are still considered among the worst tragedies in U.
S. military history. “I would like people to realize just what we were up against in Beirut, given the various warring factions that were there,” Marine 1st Lt.
Mark Singleton said. “Without a doubt, we faced insurmountable odds, yet we carried out the mission assigned with professionalism and skill.” Singleton, who lives in Conway, is one of at least three Lowcountry residents to survive the Oct.
23, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.
Sumter named World War II heritage city by National Park Service This October will mark 41 years since a terrorist attack carried out by Hezbollah killed 241 military personnel: 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. The attack remains the single-deadliest day for the Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima. Navy Corpsman Don Howell, who now resides in Summerville, was in the basement of the Marine barracks when the bomb went off.
He soon was buried beneath the concrete and rebar that once held the barracks together. Howell was struck by debris in his right eye and had to climb his way out of the rubble. He remains blind in his right eye from the injuries he sustained.
In spite of his own injuries, Howell immediately went to work. As a corpsman, it was his responsibility to triage and render aid to those injured by the blast. 'This solemn moment': Spartanburg pays tribute to 9/11 first responders at 23rd anniversary Today's Top Headlines Story continues below Invasive animals plague South Carolina.
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Indie horror movie filmed in Columbia uses Papa Jazz, New Brookland Tavern as settings Judge in Murdaugh-related case over leaked photos of Mallory Beach's body asked to step down “I knew what I was there for,” Howell said. “I was coherent and able-bodied except for the vision in my right eye. I could still see somewhat through my left eye, and I did help people out.
” Four decades have passed since the attack, yet the memories of that day are still strong. In an effort to preserve these stories for future generations, historian and author James Scott, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and former reporter for The Post and Courier, teamed up with fellow author and U.S.
Navy veteran Jack Carr to write and release “Targeted: Beirut.” The book takes readers back to Lebanon and examines the attack from the perspective of people who were there, including the three men interviewed in this article. A fiery plane crash on 9/11/74 changed Charleston forever.
50 years later, its scars linger. “I wasn’t sure after 40 years exactly what the benefit of me speaking about my experience in Beirut would be,” Navy lieutenant and Dr. James Ware said.
“On my first meeting with (Scott), it was obvious he was an actual, true historian with incredible credentials, and I felt the need to open up to him for the sake of the family members, parents and children (of servicemen who were killed)." “There is a story to be told, and James Scott and Jack Carr have done it well," he added. Ware, a native of Savannah, was commissioned into the Navy as a dentist in 1982.
He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, and his job was to tend to the teeth of 950 personnel as they shipped out to Lebanon in 1983. Ware would ultimately play a much bigger role in the aftermath of the attack as he helped organize the medical response to those injured by the explosion. SC couple helped find crash site of missing WWII pilot.
Now to sift through the wreckage. Howell said it would have been easy to get bogged down in the military jargon associated with events like this, but he wanted the focus to circle back to the human elements of the story. “These are just regular guys with regular ambitions and hopes and dreams and families,” Howell said.
“With all these years gone by, we had been forgotten, so when we resurrected this with the book, we resurrected the Marines that passed away there and the Navy corpsman that were there.” The authors will be interviewing Singleton, Howell and Ware about their experiences in Beirut. The three Beirut survivors will be on stage at 6 p.
m. Sept. 24 at the Charleston Library Society, 164 King St.
For more information, head to charlestonlibrarysociety.org/events . “Each of them has a unique and powerful perspective that will help illuminate this tragedy,” Scott said.
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