1980- Cuban refugees heading for Florida
Forty years ago, what is now called the “Mariel Boat Lift” occurred. Thousands of refugees from Cuba boarded all kinds of boats and headed for Florida and a better life in the USA. Many were escaping the Communist regime of Fidel Castro, a good many more were planning to reunite with long lost family members who were already living in the US. I know that part to be true because a marine from my company met up with his sister who he hadn’t seen in ten years. Then there was the other side of the story. Castro used the “Freedom Flotilla” as an excuse to empty some of his prisons and dump them on America. I know this because I was there.
Back in May of 1980, my battalion was on what was called ‘air alert.’ That meant that if the president needed to send troops anywhere in the world, he would send the air alert battalion first. In fact, three days before the botched hostage rescue attempt in Iran, we were woken up at two in the morning, put on trucks and driven the fifty miles to the air base at Cherry Point, North Carolina and put on a plane, only to be told it was a drill. Anyway, two weeks after, President Jimmy Carter ordered us to Key West, Florida to deal with the influx of Cuban refugees landing on US soil.
My company was assigned to what was called “tent city.” It was a waiting area for refugees to be taken on to Miami for further processing. Our job was to make sure the refugees were looked after and order was kept while they awaited transportation. We did that for four weeks, three of those, I was assigned to what they called the ‘2C’s,” people who had no links to the US, many of them released from Cuban prisons and dumped on the US. Still, we did our jobs and looked after them as best we could and for our efforts, the entire battalion was awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal and all of us were given Certificates of Appreciation for our efforts.
Even though what we did in Key West was entered into our Combat Records, I have no great heroic tales to tell from my experience. Sure, there were times some of the prisoners got a little boisterous but they soon calmed down without the use of any force. Being Florida, we also had to be on the lookout for rednecks who had made threats of coming down to Key West to shoot all the refugees. That never happened either. Actually, the duty itself was nothing exciting but we all did our duty and I think did it well. Actually, the best part and this is true in most places service persons are sent to, was the liberty in Key West. Lots of bars to hit although I wish they hadn’t imposed a midnight curfew because Key West doesn’t really start jumping til about 10:30.
When we returned from Key West, we didn’t get any parades or any serious recognition. The battalion was given a 72 hour pass but that was it. During that time, I mentioned that I had been down to Key West to deal with the Cuban situation but nobody really seemed that impressed. At least, I had a feeling of the indifference Vietnam Veterans faced when they returned home.
Now, it seems that the entire Mariel Boat Lift or Freedom Flotilla or Cuban Refugee Crisis or whatever else it has been called has been consigned to the back-burner of history. Very few people seem to remember it and even when I googled it, there isn’t that much detail. Even more depressing was my participation is now just a footnote. All I could find was a statement that 400 marines were sent to deal with the situation. I just happened to be one of them.
One ignorant person claimed that I had done only what any recruit could have done and my efforts were nothing special. Maybe so, but at the time, it didn’t seem to be the case. Others will say that I am simply trying to get some sort of relevance for what I did in Key West for my own life, like I’m some sort of saddo. I’m not trying to do that. However, what I am doing is remembering the 40th anniversary of something I was doing for my country at the orders of the president. If that’s sad, then others have a problem with it. So, in my closing breath, I ask that all of you tip your hat in remembrance to the Cubans who risked their lives travelling to get to a better life in America and the 400 marines who helped make it possible for them.
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