Badges - From the shores of Tripoli

From: Charles Rahn <c.t.rahn@xxxxxxxx>
To: Badges 1Badge <badges@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 22:56:25 -0400
CDR Salamander Posted: 30 May 2011 09:03 PM PDTI guess that it should have been 
done during WWII - but that is OK; better late than never. This is a good and 
right thing to bring these shipmates home. If the Libyan situation opens a door 
for a short period for us to do it - then by all means let's do it.
More than two centuries after they died off the coast of present-day Libya, the 
remains of the first 13 Navy commandos in U.S. history - in the words of one 
supporter, the “earliest Navy SEALs” - are one step closer to coming home.The 
U.S. House of Representatives, brushing off prior opposition from Defense 
Department officials, voted last week to insist the Pentagon get them 
back.House lawmakers attached the directive to the annual defense-policy bill 
that cleared the chamber on Thursday, with backers saying it was time to honor 
the daring men as fallen heroes.“The United States has an obligation to leave 
no member of our military behind, regardless of how long ago they were killed,” 
said Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican, who visited the grave sites in 
Libya in 2004 and co-sponsored the legislation with Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo, New 
Jersey Republican. “Bringing the remains of those brave members of our military 
home and giving them a proper military funeral will finally end a tragic story 
that has lasted far too long.”The commandos were part of President Thomas 
Jefferson’s war against the Barbary pirates, who terrorized shipping off the 
coast of North Africa in the early 1800s. The commandos died while on a stealth 
mission to infiltrate Tripoli's harbor and sail a flaming ship into the enemy 
fleet that lay anchored there, trying to destroy it and force the release of 
U.S. sailors the pirates imprisoned on land.
Their ship, the USS Intrepid, caught fire prematurely either by accident or 
because it was hit by a shot from the enemy, and all 13 men perished.The 
commandos’ bodies were recovered by the residents of Tripoli.According to 
accounts, the remains were fed to dogs, then the U.S. prisoners of war were 
forced to bury what was left.
Badges - From the shores of Tripoli

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