{ "item_title" : "Beirut, 1983", "item_author" : [" Wayne Gombar "], "item_description" : "Beirut, 1983On the morning of October 23, 1983, Beirut became the site of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Western military forces in modern history.At approximately 6:22 a.m., a suicide truck bomb struck the U.S. Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport, collapsing the four-story headquarters building of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. The attack killed 241 American service members: 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel, and 3 Army soldiers.Minutes later, a second suicide vehicle bomb struck the French Drakkar building across the city, killing 58 French paratroopers. In American memory, the Marine barracks bombing became a defining wound for the Marine Corps. In French memory, Drakkar became a national military tragedy. Together, the two attacks marked a coordinated strike against the Multinational Force and exposed the deadly gap between peacekeeping language and battlefield reality.Beirut, 1983 tells the full story of that morning and the conflict that made it possible. It examines Lebanon's civil war, the Israeli invasion, Syrian influence, Iranian revolutionary reach, the rise of Hezbollah, and the difficult mission faced by American, French, Italian, and British forces. It follows the Marines at the airport, the French paratroopers at Drakkar, the warnings that preceded the bombings, the rescue efforts beneath the rubble, the casualty notifications that reached families at home, and the investigations that followed.This is not only a story of terrorism. It is a story of mission ambiguity, force protection, intelligence failure, national grief, and military memory. It is also a memorial to the men who died: Marines, sailors, soldiers, and French paratroopers who came to Lebanon under the banner of peace and were killed in a war that had already marked them as targets.For too long, Drakkar has remained secondary in many English-language accounts. This book restores the French dead to the center of the story, beside the American dead, where they belong.They came in peace.The war came for them anyway.Author BioWayne J. Gombar is a United States Marine Corps veteran, federal infrastructure professional, and historical nonfiction author whose work focuses on military history, national security, crisis response, and the human cost of conflict.Raised in Washington, D.C., Gombar built a career spanning more than three decades in telecommunications, critical infrastructure, federal contracting, security systems, and mission-support operations for government and defense-related customers. His professional background includes work supporting complex infrastructure programs for federal agencies, correctional institutions, military installations, and national-security environments.As an author, Gombar writes with a focus on disciplined research, operational context, and respect for those who served. His books examine not only what happened, but why it happened, how decisions were made, and how military events shaped families, institutions, doctrine, and national memory.In Beirut, 1983, Gombar brings together his Marine Corps background and his interest in military history to examine the October 23, 1983, attacks on the U.S. Marine barracks and the French Drakkar building. The book reflects his commitment to honoring both the American and French dead while explaining the broader history of Lebanon, the Multinational Force, force protection, terrorism, and the painful lessons written into that morning.Gombar lives in South Carolina with his wife, Tracey and their pups, Tucker and Trixie.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers4.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/9/79/818/394/9798183948387_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "29.99", "online_price" : "29.99", "our_price" : "29.99", "club_price" : "29.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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