"Grenada cheers 1983 US invasion" by Linda Straker and Danica Coto | Associated Press, October 26, 2013
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada — The planes began flying over Grenada around dawn, their low rumble awakening people in the Caribbean island where a military government had seized power days before and executed the prime minister.
More than 7,000 US Marines and Army paratroopers invaded the island to the cheers of Grenadians, who commemorate the 1983 action with a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day. About 100 people died during the operation dubbed ‘‘Urgent Fury.’’
Dozens of US veterans, Grenadians, and former US students evacuated from Grenada’s medical school during the operation gathered Friday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of the most popular foreign invasions in recent history and what was then the largest US military operation since the Vietnam War.
Was it? Is any invasion popular for long?
Months before the operation, President Ronald Reagan had complained about Soviet-Cuban militarization of the Caribbean and expressed worries that a new Cuban-backed 10,000-foot runway in Grenada would be used by Soviet military planes.
Back then we were told it was Cuban military; come to find out they were only construction workers. The American medical students allegedly rescued never felt in danger or threatened.
Of course, my memory must be faulty. My government and mouthpiece of a newspaper would never lie to us.
Then on Oct. 19, 1983, Grenada’s Marxist prime minister Maurice Bishop, three members of his Cabinet, and four others were executed by a radical faction of his Cuba-backed party on orders of then-Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. Six days later, Reagan sent in US troops, helped by a few hundred Caribbean security forces. Reagan said the invasion was necessary to protect the lives of the more than 600 US students at St. George’s University School of Medicine.
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Related: Correction: Grenada-US Invasion story
Glad to see they corrected and revised the account.
Also see: How Grenada reshaped the US military
Because it took attention away from the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon.
