Always remember
posted on November 10, 2020
By Mary Dever
Marine Corps veteran John Chipura transferred to the New York City Fire Department in the footsteps of his father and brother, after having spent 12 years as a New York City police officer.
Family looks back on Marine’s life of service
On the morning of Oct. 23, 1983, 21-year-old John Chipura was on his way to his shift as a radio operator at the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit headquarters in Beirut when a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into the barracks, killing 241 U.S. military personnel.
FBI investigators said that it was the largest non-nuclear explosion since World War II and the most powerful car bomb ever detonated at that time. And for three days following the deadly terrorist attack, Chipura’s family waited for word of his fate, not knowing whether he had made it out alive.
“He was missing to us for three days. For three days, we had no contact, no information, nothing,†said John’s brother, Gerard Chipura. “We thought he was lost, like so many others at that time.â€
https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2020/always-remember/
