Beirut Marines reflect on death of Hezbollah leader who planned 1983 attack
Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah leader who planned the 1983 attack on a in Beirut that killed 241 US service members, was recently killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Jeff Schogol
Posted on Aug 2, 2024 1:29 PM EDT
Beirut Marines
From left to right: Tim McCoskey, Thurnell “Chip” Shields, and Randy Gaddo, are all Marine veterans who served in Beirut in October 1983.
On Oct. 23, 1983, Marine Cpl. Thurnell “Chip” Shields lay on his cot on the third floor of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines battalion landing team headquarters in Beirut when he was awakened by the sound of gunfire.
A suicide truck bomb was barreling toward the building. A Marine guard had opened fire with his M-16 as a sergeant on the ground floor instantly recognized the threat and engaged the truck with his .45 caliber pistol, Shields recalled.
The sergeant yelled for Marines in the building to get out. Shields managed to get up and put his helmet on. The next thing he remembers is an intense white flash. He spent the next three hours trapped in the rubble of the building before he was rescued.
The explosion killed 241 U.S. service members: 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. It was the bloodiest single day for the Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. A second attack minutes later killed 58 French troops.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-veterans-hezbollah-leader/
