In 1983, U.S. troops, supported by six Caribbean nations, invaded the tiny, leftist-ruled island of Grenada. Nineteen Americans died in the fighting.Just to refresh any memories as needed, it was called Operation Urgent Fury.
The first two reports that reached me were both rumors (said rumors will appear in comments to avoid confusion) and both rumors proved wrong. The SEALs did lose men on the way in, and there was a hell of a firefight on the airfield, but it wasn't as depressing as first thought. 19 dead, though...
The invasion served two purposes of note besides the stated rescues and liberation: Political (which I will not comment on further); and to finally make a public statement that Cuban military expeditions, which had been a constant danger for years from Africa to Latin America, were no longer going to be tolerated. From this point on, it was all downhill for Cuban Adventurism.
It isn't forgotten on Grenada, by the way. It is Thanksgiving Day and thank you for remembering.
4 comments:
For those of you who enjoy a good example or two of the "grapevine" in action, here are the two INCORRECT rumors:
1)that a SEAL team element being dropped into the waters off-shore were dropped on a bare reef, because of low tides, and died. -- this was one of those "The Commander is Stupid" stories. In truth though, maps and terrain information given to forces going in were all *terrible*.
2)that when the Detachment(s), Rangers, and then Airborne re-enforcements took the airfield from Cuban defenders, medics had to "bag and tag 42 Rangers". -- this is one of those "There We Were, 2 against 10,000" sort of stories, because only a vastly tougher foe than *you* can even imagine could possibly injure a Ranger. Sadly, that just isn't so. The initial contact with the Cubans (a Construction Battalion, so says the history books) went poorly, Ranger formations joined in, but it wasn't until further equipment and men made it in that the Cubans and local allies were defeated.
At the time I was a pretty naive proto-adult and couldn't imagine there could be a good reason for the action. Later on it seemed such a small event I never thought about it.
Thank you for making me take another look.
Blackfive has a good article on this.
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@will
A pleasure to be of service. Thank you for saying so.
today in history-
1492 - Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba & claims it for Spain
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