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JUNE 1982, EVACUA-
IC during the war
6
It was on the morning of Wednesday,
June 8th, a week after the Israeli inva-
sion to South Lebanon, when President
Reynolds called and asked me to go
down to the Chehab building and pay
the three taxis taking a few Americans
to East Beirut. The passengers were Mr.
and Mrs. Magnotta, Miss Barbara
Trudeau, Miss Dawn Keys, Miss Lina
Mukalled (Leb. fom J.P.S.), David Ray,
and Mr. and Mrs. Turchan. None of the
passengers could tell me where they
were going in East Beirut, so I had no
choice but to take charge of finding
their accomadations. For the next few
days, I would be in charge of much
more than just hotel reservations,
though that task alone was an impres-
sive one. After calls to numerous hotels
and with the help of my wife, Joseph
Nohra and my brother, we could find
only a few empty rooms in hotel Le
Crillon Broumana, which was still in
the process of getting ready for the
summer. All the other hotels were
unexpectedly full with people evacuat-
ing West Beirut for fear of Israeli air
raids and possible invasion of the
whole area. Luckily, we had everyone
settled by the afternoon.
Early the next morning, I went with Nicolas to the Jounieh port to
start looking for any agent who had a boat going to Cyprus, but all
we heard were lies. They told us Israel had blocked all the exits
from Lebanon and there were no boats whatsoever and their only
solution was for us to turn our passports over and, in effect, take
our papers hostage. The next morning when I retraced these steps
to Jounieh, the answers I received were no different from the day
before. When I returned again later that evening, my efforts were
again in vain. In short, I was traveling to Jounieh-Dbaieh and back
to Broumana twice daily to keep checking with no success.
Meanwhile, our group of guests had grown with the addition of a
student named Mazen Salah, Diana Wall, her friend Alison Brooks,
and a man named Ed Krepps. On that second day, I took them up
to arrange for their rooms in Broumana. The hotel had become so
crowded by this point that not one room was left empty. We had
to squeeze the women in with the women and men in with the
men. With Dawn Keys' boyfriend joining the group, we now had
twelve people staying in the hotel and two in Nancy's home.
On the morning of Sunday, June 13, Mr. Reynolds called me to say
that Sully had been in accident. Nicolas and I went down to meet
him in the Museum area where the roads were full of cars carrying
people to the East. Sully had bandages on his forehead and his arm
was in a cast. After that, I had to shuffle all over the city, taking
care of my wife, before taking Nancy and Mazen Salah up to
Broumana and find a room for the Sullivans. Luckily, we were able
to find a room down in the hotel basement in the service room.
On my way back to Beirut, I heard on the radio that the French
Embassy was arranging for the cruise ship, “Azur” to leave Jounieh
early next morning, taking Europeans to Toulon. I decided to see if
this ship would agree to take Americans. I took my sister, who
knew more French then I did, down to the Centre Culturelle near
the racing track. Luckily, the people there were very understanding
and accepted all of our would-be passengers, except Lina
Mukalled (Lebanese) and Mazen Salah (Jordanian). Thanks to Eric
Pinon, we were able to convince the French Embassy to take
Eshete Magnotta, an Ethiopian.
While we were in the Centre, an Israeli air raid hit the racing track.
It was a terrible one; we had to wait an hour until it calmed down.
By that time, we had finished all the formalities. I left the Centre to
drop my sister off and then went straight to Nancy’s place to see if
she wished to leave with the rest of the party the next morning.
After some consideration, she agreed. The raid was only getting
stronger when I returned to the Centre at 6:00 p.m. with Nancy’s
passport. I had to explain my entire story to the Lebanese army
who wanted to stop me due to the shelling.
I was soon back at home with Nancy and my worried wife. That
evening, I drove to Broumana to tell the people there to be pre-
pared the next morning at 5:00 a.m. to travel to Jounieh. I returned
their passports to them and gave them their permits. At 10:00 p.m.,
I made my final trip of the day back to Beirut, this time with Diana
and Alison to pick up a few things they needed from their luggage
at Nancy's place. It occurred to me at that time that I was missing
the opening of 1982 World Cup in Spain. After getting Diana and
Alison a taxi back to Broumana, I had to run and find three taxis
and a truck for the next morning’s journey.
The next morning, June 14, at 5: 00 a. m., the three taxis were
waiting in the street and my brother in his car. My wife and I went
to Nancy’s place, where the rest of the party was waiting, and then
up to Broumana. Everyone was packed and ready to go outside the
hotel, luggage being loaded into the truck. We began the long,
five-car caravan, one truck in tow, down to Jounieh. Once there,
we waited in the military base to make sure the ship was really
going to depart. I kept the taxis waiting until 7:30, until I saw the
French ambassador, Mr. Paul Marc Henri, and he assured that the
ship was coming. We waited, the sun beating down on us, getting
hungry and thirsty. I went out to Jounieh and brought back a case
of beer and a dozen biscuits to try to keep spirits and hopes high.
The ship finally appeared at 2:00 p.m. Two hours later, when the
last person of our group was on board, I went to the French ambas-
Pictures extracted from the 1982 Torch, portraying the 1982 events.
Pictures extracted from the 1982 Torch, portraying the 1982 events.