40 Years Ago: The Infamy
1983 Beirut USMC Barracks Bombings
On this day 40 years ago, at 0622, U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut were the subject of a terrorist attack by Hezbollah (and thus Iran) with a suicide bomber detonating at least 9,500kgs of TNT.
220 (including 12 who later died from injuries) United States Marines from the 1st Battalion 8th Marines (Battalion Landing Team – BLT 1/8) of the 2nd Marine Division were killed. The explosion represented the largest loss of life in a single day for the U.S. Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945
In addition to 18 additional U.S. Navy Personnel and 3 U.S. Army personnel, 58 members of the French military, as well as 6 civilians were killed in a second explosion a few moments later. 128 more Americans were also wounded.
The attack would subsequently lead Skjǫldrinn to become involved in the war against radical Islam, and more specifically Hezbollah and Iran, modifying the military order’s foreign policy for decades to come, including alliances, formal or not, with the United States and Israel that only ended in 2022. (More about context in “Úlfheimr: The Dark Age” book.)
