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Broadcaster Press 07
June 4, 2013 www.broadcasteronline.com
‘Don’t waste what you’ve been given’
Vermillion honors war dead with Monday service
By David Lias
david.lias@plaintalk.net
“It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us—
that from these honored
dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for
which they gave the last
full measure of devotion—
that we here highly resolve
that these dead shall not
have died in vain…”
This excerpt from
Abraham Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address,
according to Andy Howe,
helps explain why
Monday’s Memorial Day
observance in Vermillion is
important.
The quote also reveals a
paradox that at times
Howe and other veterans
like him struggle with at
times.
Howe, known to the
community as the Clay
County sheriff, served in
the U.S. Marine Corps as
part of the multi-national
peacekeeping force in
Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. It
was a military action that
at times seemed to have no
clear mission.
“How do you prevent
people from dying in vain
when they didn’t even have
an objective when they
died?” Howe asked during
his keynote address at
Vermillion’s Memorial Day
observance, held Monday
in the Vermillion Public
Library. “That’s a real
tough one. How can we all
make sure that all of our
servicemen that go
overseas, do their duty,
and die … don’t die in
vain?”
In the fall of 1982,
because of increasing
political unrest and a civil
war in Lebanon, President
Ronald Reagan organized a
new “multinational force”
with France and Italy. On
Sept. 29, 1982, this new
force entered Beirut with
about 1,200 Marines. Their
stated mission was to help
the new Lebanese
government and army
with stability.
Howe, a member of the
Bravo Battery, was
scheduled to be discharged
from the U.S. Marine
Corps in April 1983. He
learned,however, that
Charlie Battery needed a
ammunition technician, so
he decided to add six
months to his enlistment
and transfer to Charlie
Battery.
On April 18, things
changed rapidly for Howe
and other Marines. That
day, the U.S. embassy in
Beirut was targeted by a
suicide bomber. Sixty three
people died, mostly
embassy and CIA staff
members, several soldiers
and one Marine. Seventeen
of the dead were
Americans. It was the
deadliest attack on a U.S.
diplomatic mission up to
that time, and is thought
of as marking the
beginning of anti-U.S.
attacks by Islamist groups.
“We knew what we were
going in there (Lebanon)
for – we were going there
to keep the peace,” Howe
said. “And I thought a lot
of what I was in it for was
to have the opportunity to
use the skills that we had
spent all of these years
learning,” he said.
Howe landed in Beirut
on May 28, 1983, with the
24th Marine Amphibious
Unit. He described it as a
“gleaming white city” as he
viewed it from the deck of
his ship.
“In Beirut, at that time,
we had a mission of
keeping the peace,” he said.
“Another mission they
talked a lot about was
keeping the airport open.
I’m not going to get into
the politics of what is
going on or analyze this
and try to break it down to
decide if we were right or
wrong to be there.
“I was a corporal, and I
didn’t get to decide why we
were in Beirut, or whether
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or not we should be in
Beirut,” Howe said. “I was
there because I was sent
there.”
For months, life was
routine, made up of
patrols in portions of the
city. Life for Howe and his
fellow Marines remained,
for the most part, fairly
calm for a time.
“Every now and then
we’d have a mortar drop
on us, and every now and
then, people would take a
shot at us,” he said. “We
had rules of engagement
that we needed to follow,
and we were there to keep
the peace and hope that
people would follow the
rules and be nice to each
other. Of course, that
didn’t happen.”
Israeli forces left
Lebanon in August 1983,
“and rather than us
moving out to Israel’s
positions, the militias
moved into those
positions, meaning they
were closer to us. All of
sudden, we were right next
to the militia units,” Howe
said.
Soon, the multinational forces were being
pounded by artillery, and
began to suffer casualties.
“Things changed right
there, and as far as the
Marines, we were snarling
bulldogs at that point,” he
said.
Soon, Howe and his
fellow Marines found
themselves engaged in
military action around the
clock.
“There were times, I
swear, I would go six or
seven days in a row
without sleep,” he said. “It
was non-stop, from late
August through October. It
was constant – the
shooting and the shelling
never really let up.”
On Oct. 23, 1983, just
as Howe was getting ready
to go to bed, he and his
fellow soldiers were shaken
by the sound of a loud
explosion.
“I thought we had an
artillery round hit just on
the other side of the little
wall we were behind,”
Howe said. He and other
soldiers suddenly realized
the landscape had
changed, and something
was missing.
An entire building was
suddenly gone. Two truck
bombs struck separate
buildings housing United
States and French military
forces killing 299
American and French
servicemen. The
organization Islamic Jihad,
later known as Hezbollah,
claimed responsibility for
the bombing.
Many men from Howe’s
unit who were on mess
duty or serving as forward
observers were killed, he
said.
Approximately a month
later, he and many of the
surviving members of the
unit were on their way
back home to the United
States.
“That was the end of
my time in the Marine
Corps, and my time in
Charlie Battery,” he said.
“Here we are 30 years later
– it’s a time I would never
give back; I’m glad that I
did it. At this point, you
wonder about the unclear
objectives, because we’re
still doing that now – all
the time we’re sending our
people over(seas) with not
really having an idea of
what they’re supposed to
do or what is expected out
of them.
“The Beirut Marines
are always a bit angry that
there was never a military
response to this,” Howe
said. “President Reagan
intended to, but there just
wasn’t because of the
politics that were going on
then.”
He said he will never
forget the servicemen who
lost their lives in Beirut.
“I’ve always thought
about how I can best serve
these guys, who we lost
overseas,” Howe said, “I’ve
always thought the best
thing to do is live well – do
a good job, raise your kids,
serve your community.
Live well because they
can’t. It’s as simple as that.”
It’s a view that Howe
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said he hopes everyone
keeps in mind as they
remember their fellow
citizens who gave their all
so that Americans may live
free.
“I think it’s important,
as you go out every day …
just don’t waste what
you’ve been given,” he said.
“That’s the message I hope
to leave here today.”
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