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Douglas Trudeau , Assoc. Broker
Prudential Foothills Real Estate
64 N. Harrison Road, Suite 160
Tucson , AZ 85748
Mobile: 520-954-2209
Contact Me



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Honoring Memorial Day 2008

Marine Memorial SalutePlease remember those who have gone before us on this important day. As a former Marine, this picture touches me. I do not like war. I do understand there are unfortunate times when war is necessary. Unfortunately, we are living one of those times now. Unfortunately we are in a war like none we have experienced. I understand there are those of us who have volunteered to put ourselves in harms way. I understand that unfortunately some do not come home.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a soft spot for Veterans and their families. Lets put our differences aside and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.

Gen John A LoganOn May 5, 1868 General John Logan proclaimed May 30th as Memorial Day by General Order No. 11. Organized women’s groups in the south had been decorating graves long before the end of the Civil War. New York was the first state to recognize Memorial Day in 1873. By 1890 all Northern states honored our fallen warriors. Memorial Day is a day to remember all those who fought for our freedom. The current battles on foreign lands create a lot of controversy.

If anyone wonders why we are over there, whether Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else, there are some dates to remember for those who are not here with us today. Since 1979 we have been slowly, meticulously and ruthlessly drug into a war we never asked for.  A war that is taking many American lives.

1979 - Iran Hostages

1979 Iran HostagesNovember 4, 1979 fifty three Americans were held hostage in the American Embassy for 444 days. A group of students took over the American embassy in support of Iran’s revolution. On April 24, 1980 eight American Soldiers lost their lives in an attempt to rescue the hostages. Not until January 20, 1981 were the hostages released.


1982-1992 - Beirut Hostages

From 1892 to 1992 there were 67 hostages. The victims were mostly from Western countries, and mostly journalists, diplomats, or teachers. 25 of them were Americans, 16 were Frenchmen, 12 Britons, 7 Swiss and 7 West Germans. 10 died in captivity. The most notable was the March 16, 1984 kidnapping of William Buckley, the CIA Station Chief in Lebanon. Americans who were kidnapped included journalist Terry Anderson, American University of Beirut librarian Peter Kilburn, and Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister. While some of the prisoners lived through captivity — Anderson spent the longest time as a hostage, 2,454 days — some, including Buckley, died in captivity or were killed by their kidnapers.


1983 - Beirut Embassy

1983 BeirutEmbassyBombingApril 18, 1983 a suicide bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon took 60 lives; 32 Lebanese employees, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passersby, 1 suicide bomber. 120 were injured by the blast. Islamic Jihad Organization, often described as a “shadowy” group, claimed responsibility for the blast with a message “promis[ing] not to allow a single American to remain on Lebanese soil … we mean every inch of Lebanese territory. …”


1983 - Beirut Marine Barracks

1983 Beirut Marine Barracks BombingOctober 23, 1983 two truck bombs attacked the living quarters of multi-national forces. The majority killed in the blast were US Marines; 241 American servicemen, 58 French servicemen, 6 civilians, 2 suicide bombers, 75 injured. “Islamic Jihad” took responsibility for the bombing, but that organization is thought to have been a nom de guerre for Hezbollah receiving help from the Islamic Republic of Iran.


1983 - Kuwait Embassy

December 12, 1983 not two months following the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing a suicide bomber took the lives of 6 people and injured 80. The perpetrators of the bombing are thought to have been Radical Shia Islamist members of the Iraqi Islamic Dawa Party working with the support and assistance of the Islamic Republic of Iran.


1984 - Kuwait Flight 221

December 3, 1984 hijackers diverted a flight 221 in route to Pakistan from Kuwait to Tehran, Iran. Women children and Muslims were released from the plane. Two American diplomats, Charles Hegna and William Stanford were shot and their bodies thrown to the tarmac. Remaining passengers were threatened and tortured. Six days later Iranian security forces stormed the plane and the hostages were released. Iran promised to bring the hijackers to trial. All were released and allowed to return to their countries.


1985 - TWA 847

The aircraft with its passengers and crew endured a three-day intercontinental ordeal during which one passenger, a U.S. Navy diver, was murdered. Dozens of passengers were then held hostage over the next two weeks, until released by their captors.


1985 - Achille Lauro

On October 7, 1985 four heavily armed terrorists representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, with some 100 mostly elderly passengers on board, in Egyptian waters. The hijackers demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners, and to prove their determination, they shot and killed a disabled American tourist, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and threw his body overboard with his wheelchair. After a two-day drama, the Egyptian government, unaware that Klinghoffer had been murdered, provided the hijackers with safe passage in exchange for freeing the ship and its passengers. Once the murder had been discovered, US Navy F-14 fighters intercepted an Egypt Air 737 airliner flying the hijackers to freedom in Tunisia and forced it to land in Sicily. The terrorists were taken into custody by Italian authorities, were tried and convicted to long prison terms.

1986 - LaBell Discotheque

1986 La Belle DischotequeApril 5,1986 a bomb was placed under a table in the LaBell Discoteque in Berlin. Of the 230 injured 50 were American servicemen; two American servicemen died. Many of the injured


1988 - Pan Am 103

December 21, 1988, just four days before Christmas 270 people lost their lives to a terrorist bombing. Including the 11 killed on the ground, the victims represented 21 countries.


1993 - World Trade Center

February 26, 1983, a car bomb in the parking lot beneath tower one of the World Trade Center. The 1500 pound bomb was intended to knock tower one into tower two. Leaving a 30 meter hole in the ground.


1995 - Riyadh Headquarters

Two bombings 5 minutes apart in the US Training facility in Riyadh killed 6 people, 5 of the Americans.


1996 - Khobar Towers

A car bomb exploded fuel truck near the living quarters of of US Air Force personnel. Killed were 19 servicemen, and on Saudi. There were 372 representing various nations injured in the blast.


1998 - Nairobi, Kenya Tanzania Embassy

August 7, 1998, a car bombing of the US Embassy killed hundreds in the East African nation. The attacks, linked to local members of the al Qaeda terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden, brought bin Laden and al Qaeda to international attention for the first time.


2000 - USS Cole

2000 USS Cole BombingOctober 12, 2000 a suicide bomber maneuvered a small boat with explosives into the side of the USS Cole as it sat in port. Seventeen servicemen died and 37 were injured.


2001 - 9/11

World Trade Towers 2001September 11, 2001, 2,998 people lost their lives in a horrendous terrorist attack on American soil. Hundreds have lost their lives since in an effort to keep fighting off of American soil. Changing our lives in ways we never imagined. Changes that will continue to effect us for decades ahead.

This Memorial Day please take the time to remember all those who lost their lives for us since we became a nation. In particular, please do not forget those who since 1979, while we were supposed to be at time of peace, who have lost their lives simply because they are American. Those who paid the ultimate price so the rest of us can enjoy barbecues, beer and family this weekend. Those who would be right beside us if they could. Because we are Americans.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Just Because. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. Thank you honoring our troops.

    May 23rd, 2008 // DeeDee

  2. Very nice, sad but true.

    May 23rd, 2008 // TDominguez

  3. Thank you for your comments. I should have mentioned those who lost their lives in and because of Desert Storm, the Battle of Mogadishu, Viet Nam, Korea, WW II and the wars before them. We all owe them so much.

    May 23rd, 2008 // Doug

  4. Thanks for the perspective!

    May 23rd, 2008 // Jim Cronin

  5. Thanks for publishing this great reminder.

    Memorial Day used to always have the slogan Lest We Forget published all over.

    I don’t see that much anymore. Perhaps it’s because so many of us have forgotten.

    May 23rd, 2008 // Bill Carroll, Sr.

  6. For those wanting an inspirational reminder of what Memorial Day is all about please click on this link Battle Hymn

    May 24th, 2008 // Bill Carroll, Sr.

  7. Bill - Thank you so much. My wife showed me the site Hall of Heroes from OldBlueWebDesigns.com. It personalizes a tribute to our brave heroes.

    May 25th, 2008 // Doug

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