Marines recall Israel-Hezbollah conflict 40 years ago as Israel-Hamas war continues

ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — About 40 years ago, early on a Saturday morning, hundreds of Marines were getting ready for their day.

They were stationed in Beirut as peacekeeping forces to work as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah.

The date was October 23, 1983, a very dark day for the Corps.

“The local Hezbollah militia was not happy with the Marine presence there,” said Jonathan Bernstein, the Arms Curator at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

“There were a pair of truck bombs that basically assaulted the Marine barracks and detonated two truck bombs and destroyed the building, the entire front face came off,” Bernstein said. “There were over 200 Marines and sailors inside that were killed.”

Bernstein is helping open a new exhibit in the museum dedicated to that fateful day.

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When it was over, 221 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers were killed.

There was no retaliation at that time, instead, the U.S. forces were ordered to withdraw.

On the day 7News' Jonathan Elias visited the museum, there were two Marines who were in Beirut that day as young Marines.

“We had several people, Friday Henderson he didn’t make it, he was sleeping up near the roof,” recalled Michael Singer who was a young Lance Corporal at the time.

“It changed my life; you learn to never take anything for granted,” said Singer. “You look back and wonder why the higher-ups had so many Marines in one spot, it wasn’t a good idea.”

Another veteran Marine who was walking through this new temporary exhibit was Steven Godfrey.

“It was a huge fireball in the sky, and it looked like a nuke had just gone off. We were three kilometers away. We immediately went back to the battle stations,” said Godfrey.

Godfrey was a 20-year-old Lance Corporal when the bombs went off.

He remembers every detail from 40 years ago.

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“Over the radio, they kept giving out updates of the body count and it went from 20 to 50 to 60, increased as the days went on,” said Godfrey.

He was listed as missing in the confusion.

“My parents for four days had no idea if I was alive or not, I was on the missing list and the way they found out I was OK was from that phone call,” Godfrey said. “They were lucky to get that call because 241 other families didn’t get that call.”

Both veteran Marines shared their anger about pulling out of Beirut instead of avenging their fellow Marines.

“That was infuriating for me, I felt as if we had to make a response, something, we ended up pulling out,” Godfrey said. “I couldn’t believe it and felt a resentment toward that.”

When I asked him about what is happening now, Godfrey said, “Here we are 40 years later and it’s all playing out again? [The] Same group of characters, Hezbollah and Hamas.”

When asked how he feels about it, Godfrey said, “I think you can guess what my feeling is."

“I admire the Israelis and they are doing what needs to be done and should have been done a long time ago,” Godfrey added.