My Memorial Day Tribute – The Marines of Beirut

by J. Connell
Posted on May 30, 2022May 30, 2022

The Marines of Beirut

Camp Lejeune’s memorial to the Marines killed in the barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon has a special meaning for me–as a Marine, I served in Beirut, and knew many personally.

It took me ten years after its construction to visit the memorial–I feared the emotional toll on seeing the names of Marines I knew.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 1812-1845
(Youngest Justice [age 32] ever appointed to Supreme Court)

“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them. . . . There is certainly no small danger, that indifference [to the right to keep and bear arms] may lead to disgust, and disgust to contempt; and thus gradually undermine all the protection intended by this clause of our national bill of rights.”

Liberty Letters, 1833