From the S&S archives: Kohl, Burns pay visit to Marines wounded in Beirut bombing

WIESBADEN — German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and U.S. Ambassador Arthur Burns came to this U.S. Air Force hospital Friday afternoon to see the U.S. servicemen recovering from what Kohl called "this terrible terrorist attack" Sunday in Beirut.

Kohl and Burns flew to the hospital from Bonn by helicopter at 3 p.m. and spent an hour visiting 15 servicemen, mostly Marines, at their beds in the hospital.

"We came to convey our greetings and good wishes for an early recovery," Kohl told reporters through an interpreter after the visit. "These feelings are shared by all the people in the Federal Republic of Germany. It was a terrible shock to learn of the terrorist attack on the Americans who had gone to support and uphold the peace in that area."

Earlier in the day, 12 congressmen landed at Rhein-Main AB and left for the Army morgue in Frankfurt where the remains of the bombing victims are being processed before being flown to the States.

The delegation landed about 100 yards from a C-141 aeromedical evacuation plane where eight Marines were being carried aboard for a 10-hour flight to Andrews AFB, Md. Air Force spokesmen said they didn't know whether all the Marines would be given further medical treatment in the States.

Navy Petty Officer J.C. Larry W. Jenkins, 32, of Pontiac, Mich., one of the recovering servicemen, said the delegation visited the wounded and gave some homemade cookies.

Kohl stopped by each serviceman's bed, asking about the patient's condition, his family and if he had ever been assigned to Germany.

"For all the German people, I wish you a very early recovery," the chancellor told the patients.

While most patients were cheerful while they sat up and talked to their visitor, several patients admitted that at first they didn't know who it was they were talking to.

Moments before the chancellor and ambassador entered a room with six patients in it, Marine 1st Lt. Charles Evans, a liaison oficer, came into the room and asked the men if they knew who was going to visit them.

"They told us we were going to have some visitors," asod Cpl. Brook Ehrenfried, 22, of Newport News, Va.

When the chancellor stopped to talk with Ehrenfried, the Marine gave him copies of three poems that a corpsman had compiled for and presented to the men. One of the poems was written by a Marine in Da Nang, Vietnam, the day before he died of combat wounds.

"You're all great young men," an emotional ambassador told the servicemen. "You did what you did for all of us and the country is very grateful to each of you."

"We're very grateful to the country, sir," responded Jenkins. "We're grateful for the support. Especially here at the hospital. They've been great."

"You deserve it, son. We're very proud of you," Burns said.

"I've got a few stitches here and a few stitches here and I've lost part of my ear, but I'm doing great," Cpl. John J. Santos, 21, of Sandwich, Mass., told the ambassador.