Forty years ago Monday, nearly 300 people were killed when truck bombs struck barracks in Beirut housing American and French service members.
Every year, veterans and students from the Northwoods Park Middle School in Jacksonville gather to hang yellow ribbons on the trees at the city’s Beirut Memorial Grove — something that’s been done since the city planted hundreds of trees in honor of the lives lost in the bombings.
Dale Garner will never forget what happened in Beirut on October 23, 1983.
“There were 14 of us in my room, and I have thirteen skulls on my shoulders on my tattoo,” said Garner, “Only survivor out of my room.”
Garner was a Marine stationed in Beirut to try to promote peace during Lebanon’s Civil War. He was just one of many in the two buildings attacked by suicide bombers.
“I remember going to sleep the night before after watching fire fights up on the hill,” recalled Garner, “And then woke up in an operating room in Beirut, and doing surgery on my head.”
Tragically, 299 lives were lost that day, making it one of the deadliest single-day death tolls for the Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Although it’s a day Garner will never forget, he says that’s not the case for others.
“Korea talks about the forgotten war, we were the forgotten incident,” said Garner, “You mention Beirut to someone out on the street anywhere other than in Jacksonville, North Carolina, it’s like 'what is that? Who was that at? When did that happen?'”
That’s why remembrance events like these are so important to him. Garner has been coming to the Memorial Grove every year for the past 15 years and says it helps to bring him closure. He says he’s happy this next generation will help carry on his and his fellow marines’ story.
“To see these young children out here doing this,” said Garner, “At least we know the memory will go on.”
Those marines were part of the military peacekeeping operation called the Multinational Force in Lebanon. There are plaques and memorials to their memory across the country, including at Arlington National Cemetery.