Stephen R. Deutsch places his hand on the flag pole after the ceremony. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During his trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
For Kevin Shaw, a Charlotte County veteran, seeing the flagpole that once stood over the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, was a difficult moment.
"I lost a lot of friends there," Shaw said Wednesday. "A lot of friends."
The tattered, shrapnel-pocked and tarnished metal pole once carried U.S. and Marine Corps flags and will return to its proper vertical stance — but this time it will stand tall for Shaw, other veterans and the public to see in a special area at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park in Charlotte County.
The pole was brought to the park on Wednesday but the route it took to get to the Charlotte County location was a long and tragic one.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
Michael Gaines shakes hands with Kevin Shaw as they go to leave. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip, a flag pole was found and will now be part of the Peace Keeper Memorial in Port Charlotte.
On Oct. 23, 1983, terrorists drove two trucks filled with explosives into buildings housing a multinational peacekeeping force at the Beirut International Airport, killing 241 U.S. service members — 220 Marines, 18 U.S. Navy sailors, and three U.S. Army soldiers — and 58 French military and Lebanese civilians.
More Marines were killed in that attack than in any single-day action since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
Michael Gaines lost his brother William, then a 21-year-old Marine, in the bombing. The park off Edgewater Drive is named for William.
Michael Gaines visited the bombing site in June 2023, where he met Mireille Rebeiz, a Lebanese war survivor and now an American citizen and professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.
A narrative included with a description of the pole and memorial explained the moment Gaines and Rebeiz made their discovery:
"Access to the parking lot area is controlled but they were allowed a brief accompanied visit. It was a heavy moment. As they stood in silence: Michael was standing where his brother last stood alive. Mireille was witnessing the aches and pains the war had caused not only to Lebanese people but also to those who came in peace to help restore law and order. It was a solemn moment for each of them. In the 15 minutes they were there, they spotted a disregarded large metal tube with shrapnel holes partly hidden under bushes and gravel. It had a ball on top and was recognized as a flagpole. "
Flag pole from 1983 Beirut bombing will stand again in Charlotte County
Michael Gaines said he got the idea for the visit after meeting Rebeiz.
"In June of last year, I was able to travel to Beirut, with a friend that I've met who was a Lebanese citizen, who lived through the Civil War and the time period of the Beirut bombing," he said. "And when the Marines were there, and she had heard from her dad, you know, growing up that the Marines saved them, she didn't really know what that what that meant. And so she kind of began a quest to research that. And along those, you know, through her research and travels, we met."
Gaines said he spoke with Rebeiz about always wanting to go to Beirut.
"And my brother had written a letter, and on the letter he drew a map of Beirut and then drew the route that he used to take to Beirut, or through Beirut, and I told her, I'd love to travel and see those spots."
That trip lead to the discovery of the flagpole and its eventual delivery to Port Charlotte by Gaines.
"The idea came to have it brought here and the county, you know, graciously accepted, they would take it, and they would display it with a plaque and information about what it meant, and where it came from," Gaines said. "And so it made its way back to the U.S. from Beirut, and I was able to pick it up and bring it here."
The pole, after temporarily being raised again at the U.S. Embassy memorial on October 23, 2023, the 40th anniversary of the bombing, returned to the United States on January 27 and was unveiled at the Charlotte County park on Wednesday.
"This is a very, very exciting day. Because the William R. Gaines Veterans Memorial Park is like no other park that we know of anywhere, honoring all of our veterans and first responders," said Stephen R. Deutsch, a Charlotte County commissioner, during the unveiling. "And we're in the process of building the Peacekeepers Memorial tower right behind me on this piece of land. And today, we've shown to the public and members of the Marine Corps, a flagpole that was in Beirut, Lebanon, at the site of that bombing 40 plus years ago where 241 Americans sacrificed their lives. Officially the beginning of the real war on terror."
Deutsch, veterans liaison for the board of county commissioners, said every veteran that knows of this memorial is likely going to come to the flagpole and put their hand on it.
"And I, I was the first to do it today," he said. "And I wanted to do that. And everyone does. Because in our hearts, everyone that has served, knows what it's like to be in the service. And the same as our first responders to be on the frontlines of our community."
Shaw, a Marine, is one such veteran. He was at the unveiling Wednesday and said it was difficult, at first, to watch.
"Today is important to me because I was actually in Beirut," Shaw said. "That was my unit, that the building got blown up. I looked at that pole hundreds of times when I was there. I remember people, my commanding officer, my executive officer, they all died in there. My best friend, he died in there. That's a lot of people."
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The public was encouraged to place their hands on the flag pole after the blessing. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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The public was encouraged to place their hands on the flag pole after the blessing. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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A shrapnel hole in the flag pole. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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The public was encouraged to place their hands on the flag pole after the blessing. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
6 of 12 — WGCUBeirutFlagPole032024AM
During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
7 of 12 — WGCUBeirutFlagPole032024AM
During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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A blessing was given once the flag pole arrived for the event. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Stephen R. Deutsch places his hand on the flag pole after the ceremony. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Kevin Shaw, a Veteran of 26 years and a Beirut survivor, helps unbox the flag pole. During a press conference and blessing, Charlotte County Veterans Liaison Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip the flag pole was found. Over a year later the pole was donated to the park to sit along side the Beirut memorial that is being built.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Kevin Shaw, Veteran and Beirut survivor, unboxed the flag pole that was found at the site of the bombing of Marines BLT HQ building near the Beirut Airport in 1983. The flag pole will soon be on display at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Michael Gaines shakes hands with Kevin Shaw as they go to leave. Michael Gaines, William Jr. (Bill) Gaines’ brother retraced some of his brother’s time spent in Beirut. During this trip, a flag pole was found and will now be part of the Peace Keeper Memorial in Port Charlotte.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
Shaw said he would have been sleeping in the barracks when the bombs exploded except for a phone call.
"I actually went, went to the building on that Saturday, call my wife, and she wasn't home. So I went back out to the field across the runway. And that's the first time I ever went to call that she wasn't home," he said. "And about the time the building blew up, I would have been in the building asleep. So just remembering, looking at that pole, just bring back memories. So it's bittersweet. It's bittersweet. But you know, it's a good thing that they're doing. I'll be glad when the tower gets completed. I can't wait to go in and see it. I didn't know Gaines ... but he was in my unit. I didn't know him. But he was one of my brothers because he was there."
Deutsch said that to have what once-held the American flag, and the Marine Corps flag, in Charlotte County at the Memorial is an incredible, historic event for Charlotte County.
"And it'll it's going to be cleaned up and it'll be back sometime this summer," he said. "It's a legacy. The park is a legacy and a living memorial to all of our veterans, first responders."
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