Urgent Fury 33rd Anniversary
Today marks the 33rd anniversary of Operation Urgent fury in which elements of the 82d Airborne Division, US Marines, 1st and 2d Ranger Battalions, Navy SEALs and others liberated the island of Grenada from Communist control.
About 7600 US troops pried loose the relatively light Cuban and Soviet presence on the island. The Grenadan Army was about 1200 souls, they were reinforced with a rogue’s gallery of Cold War-era badies;
Cuba: 780
Soviet Union: 49
North Korea: 24
East Germany: 16
Bulgaria: 14
Libya: 3 or 4
Of course, the UK and Canada complained that invasion was a flagrant violation of international law, despite the pleas to the US from Organization of American States for intervention when the prime minister of Grenada was murdered in a power struggle.
Wiki says about the casualties;
Nearly eight thousand soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines had participated in Operation Urgent Fury along with 353 Caribbean allies of the Caribbean Peace Forces (CPF). U.S. Forces sustained 19 killed and 116 wounded; Cuban forces sustained 25 killed, 59 wounded and 638 combatants captured. Grenadian forces casualties were 45 killed and 358 wounded; at least 24 civilians were killed, several of whom were killed in the accidental bombing of a Grenadian mental hospital.
In Grenada, today is known as Thanksgiving Day and it’s a national holiday.
Category: Historical
Wait, Thatcher’s UK complained that it was a violation of international law? That doesn’t seem right.
Also, funny that the only people in this who would have been forced to live under the commies see our intervention as a blessing worthy of a national holiday. Everyone else should butt out.
Remember the day well. That’s the day I arrived in St Louis a day or two early prior to my aerial port-call for Korea.
Spent much of the next day (and part of the following day) watching news about that and Beirut. Then caught a plane to Korea – where I came entirely too close to getting my ass shot off by friendlies around 2 1/2 weeks later.
God, to be that young (and naive) again. (smile)
Good times.
I was trying to figure out the new Bradley at Fort Hood cursing the fact that my battalion commander stabilized me there for two years when I tried to get back to Ft Bragg.
I was too young for the military, but old enough to remember the second half of 1983 was… an interesting time in world history. Grenada, the Beirut barracks bombing, the Soviet shoot-down of KAL 007… the Cold War was almost hot back then.
I remember watching The Day After on TV that fall, and then looking out the window to make sure the world was still there…
I was 13, my dad was stationed in Japan place was cold as hell in the winter time and the natives would always freak me out because I had blue eyes so they would take pics of me
And my sister who had blond hair
After KAL they sent us to the states then Europe I didn’t even see my dad for like almost 6 months, it seemed like the Commies had a issue keeping a leader because they kept dying
HOLY CRAP I’M OLD ????
7600 US troops? C’mon, there had to be more! We’ve had at least 6000 grace the pages of TAH!
Nah, that 6000 that you’re talking about are only the Rangers that were involved.
There are still many, many more who were down there “in the shit” with the 82nd, the Marines, and the SEALs. They number in the tens of thousands, and every one of them has at least one Silver Star, a couple of Purple Hearts, and a commemorative motorcycle vest.
Oh yeah, and a raging case of the PTSD.
Don’t forget the CIB with two stars…
For Grenada, Panama, and Desert Storm. (smile)
ummm…wouldn’t that be three stars? You guys are such posers – can’t even count!
(smile)
Holden
A Friend, Ranger Tim Spayd, (featured previously in TAH, http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=61210, and an ALS patient), was in Urgent Fury, as well as Eagle Claw (JTF 1-79). These days, Ranger Spayd has a grip on his ALS, and while not being cured of it, has its progress slowed down.
A 500 ft. jump onto a paved runway littered with Construction equipment, 55 gallon drums and while under fire is not for the faint of heart.
It takes a real man, for sure.
My youngest brother got out of the 82nd just before this.
33 years? Dang he is old.
Graybeard, you want old? I had done my tour and was OUT 11 years when this happened.
Oh, my achin’ bones.
I feel ya’, OC.
This is my youngest brother – I’m the oldest. I was married with kids when he graduated HS.
But you still got me beat for total time served on planet, I’m afraid.
I thought Gunny Hightower won that battle all by himself.
Gunny Highway. Had help from Stitch Jones, Profile-lactic, Swede, Colitis, and the rest.
I have it from a very good source, that Marsha Mason was not wearing panties under that dress at the end when Gunny gets back to Cherry Point. Gunny Highway…lucky SOB.
I enlisted this month and went to MEPS for the first go round in 1983. I went back on December 7th (A DAY That Will Lve In INFAMY!) and was officially sworm to the DEP program and then left May 1st 1984 to Lackland.
December 7th was my pay date for 23 years. I’ve been out 9 years already. Damn I feel old! (but not)
I had a drill sergeant in 1989 with his cib, combat jump wings and battalion scroll on the right shoulder. I was a young punk wanna be in awe.
Happy Anniversary to the 10 million Veterans of Urgent Fury! /sarc
Ho Lee Fukk……I guess getting old old is better than the alternative.
Semper Fi, my 22d MAU Brothers!
I was in the National Guard then – wonder if the VA lists me as a “Grenada-ERA veteran?” 😀
I was a medic with 2/9 Cav, 24th ID at Ft.Stewart. All I remember is the Squadron/Troop commanders going apeshit over the recall rosters and no one could leave post for a couple of days.
IMO the authoritative blog on the Invasion of Grenada from the Ranger perspective
http://www.magickingdomdispatch.com/
Holden
…and others liberated the island of Grenada from Communist control.
…and others included USAF CCT and PJ’s
and a bunch of taxi drivers AKA Pilots and aircrew.
I treated an Aussie merc there too….minor shrapnel wounds. He was on there gathering and sending intel via radio…one of the letter agency’s assets. Good bloke.
I was at Ft. Bragg that day, in XVIII ABC. I didn’t deploy, but I recall it was a day where shit got real, really fast.
Up until that day, I was just one of the people that joined the people in the Army. (If you remember that slogan)
Hi. I work with a guy who says he served in Grenada, Operation Urgent Fury and 1st Gulf war. I think he is lying. How can I confirm this? He would have been 17 years old in 1983 the year of Operation Urgent Fury.
well…being 17 wouldn’t preclude serving. I was on active duty at 17. He could have come in early in the year and deployed with any number of units by October.
If you weren’t in and never served on ships or with a MAU your bullshit detector will be understandably weak.
you could look at the entry on wiki for the operation…look at the time frame of his entry into the service and when the op went down, ships and other units there and ask which he served with and when. If the timeline alone is not possible then it is what it is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada
Hi.Thanks. I will follow up using your advice. He did say he was he was one of the first paratroopers to go behind enemy lines. Some kind of special forces.What made me suspicious is that he said he didn’t have a rank as he was a G5. I dont know much about the US military.So I was just curious.It’s not good for someone to claim something that other people have sacrificed their lives for. Anyway, thanks for the reply.