24 MAU 1983: A Marine Looks Back at the Peacekeeping Mission to Beirut, Lebanon

Throughout the 1980s, Glenn Dolphin served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. During that turbulent time there was no more dangerous place in the world than the chaotic and fractured city of Beirut, Lebanon. In 1983, Beirut was ruled by private militias, Islamic fundamentalism and state-sponsored terrorism. It was into this explosive environment that the Twenty-Fourth Marine Amphibious Unit was sent to accomplish a mission for which no Marine unit had ever been trained to do: “provide a presence . . . keep the peace.” In a direct, personal manner, Dolphin details the day-to-day lives, struggles and courageous acts of the Marines and Sailors of the 24 MAU. This personal narrative includes a powerful eyewitness account of the infamous bombing of the Marine barracks on October 23, 1983.