Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about PFC John R. Allman. John was born November 22, 1963, in Carlsbad, NM. He played fierce football for the Carlsbad High School Cavemen and graduated in 1982. John always wanted to be a Marine--like his father and grandfather before him. He fulfilled his dream and became a marine weeks after graduating from high school. Tragically, John was killed in a terrorist bomb attack on his barracks while on a multinational peacekeeping mission in Beirut, Lebanon. John and his fellow marines were stationed in Lebanon to help stabilize the country from civil war. On April 18, 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was hit by a suicide truck bomb--one of the first suicide attacks in the region--killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing American and French military forces in Beirut--members of the multinational force. The attack on American barracks housed the 1st Battalion 8th Marines, John's battalion. The bomb striking the marines' quarters was the largest nonnuclear explosion that had ever been detonated, equaling in force between 15,000 and 21,000 pounds of TNT. The death toll was 220 marines, 18 sailors, and 3 soldiers, John among them. It was the deadliest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima and the deadliest single terrorist attack on American citizens prior to the September 11 attacks.…”