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In 1983, the tiny 110,000-citizen nation of Grenada witnessed a severe confrontation between Western democracies and Communism.
The small island, located within the Grenadines archipelago in the West Indies between Cuba and Puerto Rico, was of great interest to the Cuban government, which knew its value and sought to establish a major airport and use the former British colony as a holding place for Soviet-made weapons.
American officials took notice and viewed it as an opportunity to restore the country’s name after several failed conflicts. In October of 1983, a controversial operation to rescue American medical students from Grenada was put into motion.
President Ronald Reagan also sought to restore democracy in the war-torn nation and avoid further influence from Cuba and the Soviet Union. An invasion masquerading as a rescue mission then ensued...
The small island, located within the Grenadines archipelago in the West Indies between Cuba and Puerto Rico, was of great interest to the Cuban government, which knew its value and sought to establish a major airport and use the former British colony as a holding place for Soviet-made weapons.
American officials took notice and viewed it as an opportunity to restore the country’s name after several failed conflicts. In October of 1983, a controversial operation to rescue American medical students from Grenada was put into motion.
President Ronald Reagan also sought to restore democracy in the war-torn nation and avoid further influence from Cuba and the Soviet Union. An invasion masquerading as a rescue mission then ensued...
Posted in these groups: Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada)
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 7
Posted 3 y ago
We need to do one on the Cayman Islands and seize the banks. Let the rich fight to get part of what they have stolen
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Posted 3 y ago
I was on DRF-1 with 1/320th FA in the 82nd. We supported the 2/325 Abn Inf. I was eating my ex-wife's birthday cake when I got the call to come in. We all thought we were going to Beirut; then heard it was Grenada. I still remember hearing the students thank us for rescuing them as they piled out of the choppers (there's a film clip somewhere of me talking to one) as they passed through our position. Even more poignant to me is listening to the Grenadian people singing their "calypso" version of "God Bless America" in the streets when we lifted the curfew.
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