Diary Entry - 11/04/1983

An early start for Camp Lejeune in N. Carolina: A memorial svc. for the Marine dead of Lebanon—the suicide bombing. It was a dreary day with constant rain which somehow seemed appropriate. All the ceremonies were outdoors rain or no rain. It was a moving service & as hard as anything we’ve ever done. At the end taps got to both of us. The only indoor part was a receiving line meeting the families of the deceased. They were so wonderful, sometimes widows or mothers would just put their arms around me, their head on my chest & quietly cry. One little boy 8 or 9 politely handed me a manila folder saying it was something he’d written about his father. Later when I could read it I found it was a poem entitled “Loneliness.” We helicoptered back to Cherry Point & there I addressed a crowd of Marines & families. Before leaving Lejeune I spoke briefly to the families I’d met in the line. That was ad-lib & the Lord was with me—the right words came. We flew back to Wash.—a few meetings and then to Camp David where it was snowing.