Secretary Gates Addresses the Marine Corps Association

[Tom Odom]

I remember vividly a day in December 1991, when as CIA Director I – along with then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney – attended an arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base. We were there to receive the remains of two men – two of our nation’s “bravest sons” – who had been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by terrorists in Lebanon. One was William Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut. The other was Marine Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins, who served with the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

These two Americans were murdered by the same Hezbollah-linked extremists who killed hundreds of Americans in 1983 at the Marine barracks and U.S. embassy in Beirut. It is important to remember that until the morning of September 11, 2001, Hezbollah had been responsible for the deaths of more Americans, our countrymen, than any other terrorist group in the world.

Not much makes me tear up. This did because I, too, was there with Ron Johnson, Steve Picirrilli, and Steve France (CAN). It touched me that the SecDef recalled that day.

Good speech altogether and one completely without buzz words.


Best

Tom

Rich Higgins (left) and Steve Piccirrilli (right) at Marine Corps Birthday Ball, Israel 1987