Key Words

On 25 October 1983, just two days after the 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing which claimed the lives of 220 US Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers, President Ronald Reagan, citing the threat posed to American nationals on the Caribbean nation of Grenada by that nation’s Marxist regime, orders the U. S. Military  to invade and secure their safety.

The invading force consisted of the Army’s rapid deployment force, Marines, Army Delta Force, Navy SEALs, and ancillary forces totaling 7,600 troops, together with Jamaican forces and troops of the Regional Security System (RSS).  The force defeated Grenadian and Cuban resistance after a low-altitude airborne assault by Rangers on Point Salines Airport at the south end of the island, and a Marine helicopter and amphibious landing on the north end at Pearls Airport.

During Operation Urgent Fury, American forces sustained 19 killed and 116 wounded.  

MAJOR GENERAL RAY L. SMITH, USMC (RET):
Ray L. Smith, a native of Oklahoma, is a retired United States Marine Corps Major General. Smith is a highly decorated Marine who has commanded infantry units at all levels, including the BLT 2/8 in Grenada and Beirut. His awards received for service in combat during the Vietnam War include the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. MajGen Smith retired from the Marine Corps in 1999 after almost 34 years of service. In 2003, after nearly four years of retirement, Smith went to Iraq with the 1st Marine Division; and penned an eyewitness account of the march from Kuwait to Baghdad — The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division.