On This Day: 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, through the lens of a camera

[TomSea]

Excerpt:

1983 Beirut barracks bombing, through the lens of a camera
Lebanese photojournalist, first on the scene, recounts the carnage 35 years on since bombing of US Marines barracks.
Alasdair Soussiby Alasdair Soussi
7 hours ago

The twin bombings killed 241 US and 58 French peacekeepers on October 23, 1983 [Pierre Sabbagh/Al Jazeera]

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As the Marines slept soundly in their bunks - or began to rouse themselves from another unpredictable night in the restive Lebanese capital - the base at Beirut International Airport was shattered by a massive blast.

A truck laden with explosives - later estimated to be the equivalent of 12,000 pounds of TNT - had rammed the BLT after crashing through the compound's fortified perimeter. The guards on early morning duty stood no chance as the vehicle's driver detonated his cargo on the ground floor of the headquarters. Of the men stationed there, 241 US service personnel were crushed to death in the rubble. A second bombing at the French contingent killed 58 peacekeepers. Another six Lebanese civilians were also killed in the twin attack.


Two suicide bombers detonated truck bombs at the French and US barracks [Pierre Sabbagh/Al Jazeera]

The events of that day, 35 years ago, remain fresh in the mind of Sabbagh, who was the first photojournalist on the scene of the bombing, which took place at 6:22am.

Read more at: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/1983-beirut-barracks-bombing-lens-camera-181022055902870.html

[TomSea]

Beirut survivors share their stories

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Emanuel “Mannie” Simmons

It was the Sunday morning of Oct. 23, 1983. Marine Lance Cpl. Emanuel “Mannie” Simmons was in supply and had spent the day delivering supplies to the Embassy, doing patrols and filling sand bags. Security was high because they had begun to take casualties. They sensed something was going to happen and all the way up to the colonel were filling sand bags to fortify their position.

Simmons was asleep on a cot under the second floor window of the four-story Marine Barracks called the “Beirut Hilton.” There was no glass so it wasn’t a window really, just an opening in the 2-foot walls of the building that the nine Marines of Headquarters and Service Company 1/8 Supply, 2d Marine Division, had covered with plywood for protection of their area from small arms fire they had taken since arriving on Memorial Day. Simmons had gotten up to go to the privy outside the building about midnight and returned to the cot. The Marines slept in full gear with an M-16 strapped to their leg. That was the last thing he remembered before regaining consciousness, buried under stacks of rubble from the truck bomb that exploded through the building at about 6 a.m.

“I was trying to figure out what happened,” Simmons said. “My first instinct was the ceiling caved in because the building was pretty shot up before we got there.

More: http://www.jdnews.com/news/20181023/beirut-survivors-share-their-stories