A Part of Chaplaincy History
The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War. Two truck bombs struck buildings housing Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) peacekeepers, specifically against United States and French service members, killing 241 U.S. and 58 French peacekeepers, 6 civilians and the 2 suicide attackers. A group called Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombings and said that the attacks were to get the MNF out of Lebanon.
Three Navy chaplains were on the ground and were able to respond immediately to the carnage following the attack. One of those present was Navy Chaplain Arnie Resnicoff. Below are some of his thoughts as he remembers that day and the impact it had on our nation's future.
Here is a link to an article which appeared in the National Catholic Reporter last year. In the article you can view the speech by President Reagan referenced below.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/rabbi-arnold-resnicoff-retired-navy-chaplain-found-humanity-amid-war
From Chaplain Resnicoff - I think the Beirut Barracks bombing had special meaning for chaplains for many reasons including the fact that there were three chaplains on the scene when the bomb exploded -- one Catholic, one Protestant, and I, Jewish -- but also because (as I think you know) it led to the first Presidential speech based on a chaplain's report.
Four days after the bombing, when then-VP George H. W. Bush led the White House team to visit the site, I was asked to write a report. That report was read by President Reagan as his keynote address to 20,000 attendees of the Baptist Fundamentalism '84 conference in Washington, DC, led by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
As we celebrate advances in religious accommodation, especially since the changes in 2014, we should remember that it was the story of Catholic chaplain Father George Pucciarelli, who made me a makeshift head covering by tearing a piece of his camouflage uniform off after my kippa had become dirty and bloodied after I used it to wipe the faces of wounded Marines, that helped pass the first religious accommodation directive allowing head coverings: actually the religious apparel act, which later became part of a religious accommodation directive, and later instruction.
The act had failed in Congress for two years in a row, but after President Reagan told the story, and it was read into the Congressional record for both the Senate and the House, the bill passed.
That really marked the beginning of all the religious accommodation achievements we have made in the military until today. There have been ups and downs as we took steps forward and then backwards and then forward again -- but it all started with this action of Father Pucciarelli.
The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War. Two truck bombs struck buildings housing Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) peacekeepers, specifically against United States and French service members, killing 241 U.S. and 58 French peacekeepers, 6 civilians and the 2 suicide attackers. A group called Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombings and said that the attacks were to get the MNF out of Lebanon.
Three Navy chaplains were on the ground and were able to respond immediately to the carnage following the attack. One of those present was Navy Chaplain Arnie Resnicoff. Below are some of his thoughts as he remembers that day and the impact it had on our nation's future.
Here is a link to an article which appeared in the National Catholic Reporter last year. In the article you can view the speech by President Reagan referenced below.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/rabbi-arnold-resnicoff-retired-navy-chaplain-found-humanity-amid-war
From Chaplain Resnicoff - I think the Beirut Barracks bombing had special meaning for chaplains for many reasons including the fact that there were three chaplains on the scene when the bomb exploded -- one Catholic, one Protestant, and I, Jewish -- but also because (as I think you know) it led to the first Presidential speech based on a chaplain's report.
Four days after the bombing, when then-VP George H. W. Bush led the White House team to visit the site, I was asked to write a report. That report was read by President Reagan as his keynote address to 20,000 attendees of the Baptist Fundamentalism '84 conference in Washington, DC, led by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
As we celebrate advances in religious accommodation, especially since the changes in 2014, we should remember that it was the story of Catholic chaplain Father George Pucciarelli, who made me a makeshift head covering by tearing a piece of his camouflage uniform off after my kippa had become dirty and bloodied after I used it to wipe the faces of wounded Marines, that helped pass the first religious accommodation directive allowing head coverings: actually the religious apparel act, which later became part of a religious accommodation directive, and later instruction.
The act had failed in Congress for two years in a row, but after President Reagan told the story, and it was read into the Congressional record for both the Senate and the House, the bill passed.
That really marked the beginning of all the religious accommodation achievements we have made in the military until today. There have been ups and downs as we took steps forward and then backwards and then forward again -- but it all started with this action of Father Pucciarelli.