Beirut, Lebanon - 4 Dec 1983: 8 Marines KIA

04 DEC 1983

“Marines at Beirut International Airport came under heavy fire from gun positions in Syrian-held territory. Marine casualties: eight killed, two wounded. Naval gunfire missions fired in retaliation. Earlier in the day, a 28-plane raid was conducted on Syrian anti-aircraft positions in the mountains east of Beirut, in retaliation for Syrian fire directed at American aerial reconnaissance missions. Two U.S. aircraft are downed, in this first combat mission over Lebanon. LT Mark Lange was killed and his co-pilot taken as a POW and released a few months later.” (Source: US Marines in Lebanon 1982-1984 - Benis Frank)

Sergeant Manuel Cox, a squad leader in Golf Co. 2/8. Sgt. Cox was an immigrant from somewhere in South America. He came to the battalion from what is now the School of Infantry, where he was a very popular instructor. All of the young boots in the battalion knew him and were in awe of him.

Sgt. Cox and his squad were put on an isolated Observation Post west of the Beirut airport. 2/8's first big scrap in Beirut took place in early December of 1983. It lasted about three hours, on and off. The local Shiite militia apparently decided it was time to see what the new Marine unit had in the way of testosterone. They found out rather quickly that the rules had changed. The BLT shot everything; small arms, mortars, artillery, tank main gun rounds, and even TOW and Dragon missiles (shot at enemy gunners in buildings, very effective!)

I received a radio message from the airport informing me that they were engaged in a pitched fire-fight and warning me to be alert for attacks on my position. I was at a position several miles away from the airport and I tuned a couple of spare radios to the frequencies used by Sgt Cox’s company and the Battalion HQ. I sat in the dark on the roof of a building and listened to Marines I knew fight for their lives. Sgt Cox's position was really catching hell. Judging by the ferocity of the attack on his OP, I believe the Shiites wanted to kill everyone there and take the weapons, ammo, etc., for their own use.

During the entire fire-fight Sgt. Cox conducted himself in a manner that was simply awesome. The entire airport could hear him on the radio talking back to his Company CP. He called for and adjusted artillery fire, mortars, gave fire commands to his gunners; the whole deal. Sgt. Cox and his Marines fought like hell that night. I have no doubt that they inflicted heavy casualties among their attackers. Someone had about an hour of the radio traffic on a tape recording. I always thought that they should have sent the tape to Squad Leader School and The Basic School, where the instructors could tell the students, "OK, listen to this. Here's how Marines should be led while in combat!”

As luck would have it the last enemy mortar round of the night hit the roof of the building that Sgt. Cox was on. It killed him and seven other Marines. Some of the M-203 gunner’s grenade vests detonated; it was a mess. The company sent a Marine down to assess the situation. He crawled about 300 meters on his belly as the Shiites attempted to shoot him. They actually shot through the canteens on his cartridge belt; he was very lucky not to take a round in his body. He got to the Observation Post, saw the gore and left in a panic for the Company Command Post.

When he arrived back at the Company CP his Lieutenant asked, "Clayburn, did you remember to get the crypto gear?” He had not and the look on his face said it all. The Lieutenant said, "Let's go back and get it". They did and it was the same shooting gallery as the first go-round.

When they got there the Lieutenant, by his own admission, was badly shaken by what he saw. The dead Marines were in really bad shape; all had been greatly physically damaged by the exploding mortar round .

The Lieutenant found Sgt. Cox’s body. The last time he had seen Sgt. Cox two days prior he was passing out cigars celebrating the birth of his child. He respected and admired Sgt. Cox and the loss of this fine Marine greatly affected this young officer.

Whenever I look at his name on the wall of the Beirut Memorial at Camp Lejeune, I always think about the devastated family he left behind. This courageous leader of Marines was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor. 

Throughout the remainder of my career, whenever I heard the terms NCO, or Squad Leader, or Marine Sergeant, I always thought of Sgt. Cox as the standard to measure everyone else by. 

What a Marine. 

What a loss.

Rest in Peace, Marines.

#Marines #Lebanon #Courage #Leadership