25 Years Ago: Beirut
The Denver Post (10/20, Pankratz) profiled Bonnie Tierney, who served as the mass casualty officer in charge of identifying US servicemembers killed on Oct. 23, 1983, at the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Today, Tierney, who works as the facilities-management administration officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Denver, “has post-traumatic stress disorder and takes anti-psychotic medication to battle suicidal urges.” Tierney says she held her feelings in “for 20 years,” and “I found myself going towards Pikes Peak with my little Honda where I was going to commit suicide. I don’t mind people knowing that, and I don’t mind people knowing that I’m on medication.” The Post added, “On Thursday, there will be an elaborate ceremony at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., honoring the men killed in the Beirut barracks. Tierney has been invited,” but “she said she probably won’t go. It would be too hard for her.”