Lance Cpl. John Kinslow of Valley City when he was in the Marines in 1983.
I’m so sorry to hear that John Kinslow of Valley City passed away. John survived the second deadliest terrorist attack against Americans in history.
Sadly, most Americans know little or nothing about this attack.
I first got to know John after he had recovered enough from his wounds to fly back to North Dakota. I was a reporter for WDAY-TV and did a story on his arrival at Fargo’s Hector Airport, with several friends and relatives waiting for him. There were lots of hugs, kisses, and tears when John arrived.
I stayed in touch with him off and on over the years, and wrote about him again for the Fargo Forum.
Smoke billows from the explosion that crushed the barracks housing mostly Marines in Beirut, as other Marines work to rescue and recover their own, Oct. 23, 1983. Credit:
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Randy Gaddo. War.gov
The horrific attack took place on October 23, 1983 in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. Lance Cpl. John Kinslow was a 20-year-old Marine who was stationed in Beirut, as part of a multinational peacekeeping force there.
Shortly after 6:20 am, without warning, two trucks with bombs carrying thousands of pounds of explosives, struck two buildings in Beirut, where the troops were staying.
Lance Cpl. John Kinslow with his mother Hjordis Campbell at the Naval Regional Medical Center at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Kinslow was recovering from his wounds from the Beirut terrorist attacks. Courtesy: John Kinslow
The bombings killed 307 people, including 241 U.S. troops (220 were Marines), 58 French troops, six civilians, and the two suicide bombers. Hundreds more were wounded.
The suicide bombers belonged to the terrorist group Hezbollah. The attack was backed by Iran.
Kinslow was sleeping when the bombs exploded. The enormous blast shot him from one side of the building to the other.
“I was in shock,” John told me. “I tried getting up using my right hand, but my elbow gave way. I passed out from blood loss and shock.”
Kinslow suffered injuries to his elbow, nose, right ear, left hand and right foot, where an artery was torn.
Lance Cpl. John Kinslow being embraced by his mother Hjordis Campbell at Fargo’s Hector Airport, two months after the Beirut terrorist attacks. Courtesy: State Historical Society of North Dakota/WDAY-TV.
“I was screaming in pain,” John said. “A corpsman gave me a shot of morphine.”
John was put on a helicopter and taken to a ship, the USS Iwo Jima.
“There was chaos on the Iwo Jima,” John said. “There were bodies everywhere. I was sad and angry. These were guys I had served with and now they were gone.”
Two months later, Kinslow made it back to North Dakota to recover from his injuries.
Marine Cpl. John Olson of Sabin, Minnesota. Courtesy: Wendy Olson Lange.
“As long as the U.S. stands for freedom, there’s hope for every country in the world,” John told me at that time.
Another person stationed in Beirut was 21-year-old Marine Cpl. John Olson, from Sabin, Minnesota and a graduate of Moorhead High School.
A few days before the terrorist attack, John wrote a letter to his family stating, “Although we aren’t making fast results, I believe our mission of peace keeping has lessened the danger of Lebanon, and slowed the spread of communism into this country. Can’t lower us for trying. Right now I will do my duty and serve my country the best way I know how. I hope this letter finds you all fine and well, as I am doing just fine.
“God bless and good times. Yours truly, John. P.S. I miss you and love you so much.”
After the truck explosions, Olson was missing. It took seven anguishing days before Olson’s family was officially notified that he was dead.
Plaque at the bottom of a flagpole in Clay County, MN dedicated to Marine Cpl. John Olson. Courtesy: KVRR-TV.
“It was devastating news,” Wendy Olson Lange, John’s sister, told me. “We all just fell apart. I couldn’t fathom it. Johnny really cared about people. He was strong, religious, a lover of life and couldn’t wait to come home.”
I had interviewed the Olson family during that painful, uncertain period of his disappearance, and I covered the funeral. During the funeral, I started crying. I couldn’t control it. It was the first time I ever cried while covering a news story. Somehow, Olson’s senseless death really hit me.
Lance Cpl. John Kinslow being hugged by a relative at Fargo’s Hector Airport two months after the Beirut terrorist attacks. Courtesy: State Historical Society of North Dakota/WDAY-TV.
In later years, I wrote about Olson’s tragic death for FOX News/KVRR-TV and the Fargo Forum.
“I miss my brother a ton. I think about him every week,” Wendy said. “He was a very good friend to me…The guy I looked up to. We spent a lot of time together as kids, and then he was just gone…I wish I knew what kind of man he would have grown up to be.”
“John would have been a great man if he had survived,” John Kinslow told me.
Now, dozens of tributes are coming in for Kinslow from those who knew and loved him.
“He was adored by the best part of the community,” his nephew Matthew Kinslow told me. “He made a lot of friends everywhere he went. Never judged. Always compassionate. Always there with the biggest soft hug.”
“No more pain. No more PTSD,” Stacie wrote. “I hope that your heart always remains full of love, because you gave so much of it away over the years to all of us.”
“John was a beautiful soul. Heart of gold,” Wendy wrote.
Jim Shaw interviewing Lance Cpl. John Kinslow two months after the Beirut terrorist attacks. Courtesy: State Historical Society of North Dakota/WDAY-TV.
Decades after leaving the Marines in 1985, Kinslow co-founded GayVeterans.US. It became a place where veterans didn’t have to hide and could be their true selves.
Still, Kinslow was permanently traumatized by the Beirut bombings, had chronic pain in his joints, and suffered from PTSD.
“John, you were an inspiration, “Bill wrote. “The demons are finally gone and you can finally rest in peace. I can’t thank you enough for your help with GayVeterans.US. Your help assisted me with pulling it off. Couldn’t have done it without you.”
John Kinslow in recent years. Courtesy: GayVeterans.US.
“A very wonderful human being,” Bonnie wrote. “I’m proud of what he has done for gay veterans.”
“The thing from the bombing that haunted him the most was hearing friends all trapped screaming for help and then they slowly stopped,” Matthew Kinslow told me. “He had night terrors from all that…He was always a proud Marine.”
So proud that he never forgot the Marines he served with. Nor did he forget that of the 11 Marines in his area, he was one of just two who survived.
“I want people to remember those who gave their lives to this country because they believed in it,” John Kinslow told me. “Two of my best friends died just feet from me. Why were they taken and not me?”
May the memories of John Kinslow and John Olson be a blessing.
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