From Charles Frye:

Dear Jeff,

(Can you post the following? I have been left out (big oops)  and I am a life member. Does our organization need anything? I know a city councilman here in Cypress and we have a Veterans Park. I would like to plant a Lebanon Cedar or erect a monument of sort. Can I buy one? Any thoughts? Also I have the resources to help this organization if you need it. I even have my on T-1 line if you need to post anything. I have $100K copier that can even make books if we need them as I use it for my nursing schools.)

 
    I was stationed on the USS VIRGINIA (CGN-38) off the coast of Beirut Lebanon on October 23, 1983. On that particular day our ship was going to have a steel beach picnic for the landlocked Marines and I had been selected to go ashore to help coordinate the transfer. Shortly after revile we got word that an explosion had hit BLT headquarters and there were "casualties on the beech." We knew from a previous trip that the BAS (Battle Aid Station) was in the basement. Our worst fears were realized only short-time later when we learned Dr. Hudson and a lot of corpsmen were killed and wounded. 
 
    Dr. James Weiner, a very good friend of mine, and I hopped on the CH 46 and headed ashore. We never anticipated the number of wounded and killed. We had brought a lot of morphine and bandages, but the number of wounded far exceeded our capabilities. The wounded needed trauma teams and we were standing there with Unit Ones. We were outgunned. We had figured we would be augmenting an existing BAS. When we got to the hanger bay there were five dead Marines already and we checked to insure proper pronouncement of death. It seemed for a while all we ever got was dead Marines and the number just continued to mount. I remember a lot of the wounded but the one that stays in my mind so much is the one who was burned so severely. They brought him from a local hospital for transfer to Germany on the Air Force C-130. I asked him how he felt. He said "I feel OK, Doc." I knew he was not going to make it at that point. When someone has such extensive burns and they are free of pain and still conscious to the degree he was, I knew that the nerves were destroyed and he was at a great risk of infection and other complications. He was the 241st serviceman to die from the Beirut attack. He died at Ft. Sam Houston Burn Center.
 
    One year later in Washington D.C. in a hotel conference room sponsored by No Greater Love I had the opportunity to meet the sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers of the Marines and Sailors killed in Beirut, Lebanon. Nothing that I have ever done in my life prepared me for what I experienced. It was like attending 200 funerals at once. The families were searching so desperately for clues as to what happen to their love ones and they saw those of us walking around as a link to them. They wanted help and we could offer nothing more than words and they needed so much more.  They wanted someone to say "I remember your son." Some wanted to know if I could say for sure that their son was dead. I remember Mrs. Hudson and her beautiful daughter... so much grace and I felt so sorry for her and her beautiful daughter who was to be raised without a father. Also the parents who tried so hard to understand why their son was chosen for the ultimate sacrifice. They all had so much dignity in face of such grief. I remember the strength of so many father who themselves were former Marines. So much pride.
 
    At Arlington National Cemetery I remember a mother crying frantically asking why we allowed her son (an HM3) to die on the airplane to Germany. Dr. Weiner told her that he didn't want him to die in Beirut. She thought that treatment was denied so that we could treat others. We treated everyone we could. The grief for all us there was that we couldn't move tons of concrete with our hands and the machines only destroyed the chances of life under the concrete.
 
    To all of you who lost a son, brother, or husband, I will always remember the sacrifices made by our service members and their families. It is such a sad day to remember.
 
    I always wish that I could have done more.
 
    I own training schools in California. My web page is www.rnfasttrack.com , and as odd as this sounds, I also own a private investigative agency (www.nationalcrimenet.com). If I can help any of you locate a long lost buddy, let me know. To reach my private investigator e-mail, send it to private eye@fryenet.com. To reach my school send it to drfrye@fryenet.com. Please feel free to e-mail me.
 
 
    Semper Fi
 
    Charles M. Frye, Ph.D., HMCM (SW) USN retired. (HM1 in Beirut)