United States Remembers 30th Anniversary Of Military Intervention In Grenada

WASHINGTON, D.C. CMC – The United States Department of Defense (DOD) says officials from US Southern Command in Miami and the US Embassy in Grenada, on Friday, commemorated the 30th anniversary of a “multinational intervention that rescued Grenada from chaos and restored the security and democratic institutions it enjoys today.”

US Marine General, John F. Kelly, commander of US Southern Command; Larry Palmer, US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and families of the 19 US service members killed and US veterans of the mission marked what the Grenadians have come to call “Thanksgiving Day,” according a release from the US Armed Forces Press Service.

Hosted by Grenada Prime Minister, Keith Mitchell, and Governor General, Cecile La Grenade, they attended Thanksgiving Day services, laid a wreath at the Intervention Memorial Monument and attended a ceremony honoring the US service members who lost their lives in the operation, the statement said.

Joining them were about 300 members of the Caribbean Peace Forces, fielded from Jamaica, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

“We are grateful, first of all, for the heroism shown by Caribbean and U.S. soldiers who, 30 years ago today, answered the call … to restore order and stability to Grenada,” Larry Palmer, U.S. Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, told the gathering at the St. John’s Anglican Church where an ecumenical service was held. “In a special way too, we remember the 19 servicemen who gave the ultimate sacrifice in this noble cause.”

The names of the U.S. troops killed during the operation were read aloud by their families and members of the university’s faculty and a moment of silence was observed in tribute to their sacrifice.

The US invasion of Grenada following the killing of Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop by a firing squad on October 19, 1983, along with three members of his Cabinet and four others during a bloody upheaval,

On the morning of October 25, 1983, US forces invaded the island with a parachute assault by US Army Rangers at Point Salines and a Marine assault at Pearl.

The date of the invasion is now a national holiday in Grenada and the Point Salines International Airport was renamed in honour of Bishop.