Pat Boyd is on another mission.
For the past several years, Pat been the coordinator for a calendar celebrating the lives of Minnesotans who have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For next year's Minnesota's Fallen Heroes Remembered Calendar, she wants to memorialize the five Minnesotans who were among the Marines killed in Beirut in the bombing of their barracks in 1983.
She has found family and friends of three of the Marines to tell their stories and approve the project. But two Marines remain a mystery. She's embarked on a detective campaign to find anyone who knew the two men, who are buried at Fort Snelling.
They are Lance Cpl. Thomas G. Lamb of Coon Rapids and Lance Cpl. John J. Tishmack of Minneapolis. If you knew them, let Pat Boyd know.
The idea is that the bombing was a terrorist attack and its victims should be remembered as much as others who have been part of the calendar. Families have told Pat they fear their loved ones have become faded memories. The bombing occurred on Oct. 23, 1983, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing U.S. and French military forces, killing 299.
Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, the retired commanding officer at the time of the bombing, will be writing a tribute for the 2015 calendar, which is scheduled to come out in August.
Pat has searched historical records and newspaper obituaries for next of kin but to no avail. A mention of her search in the Mesabi Daily News recently netted her the identity of a third Marine.
Lamb and Tishmack have proved more elusive. And time is running down. A crucial deadline for the calendar looms at the end of the month. She hopes that each of the Marines will be honored with their own month in the calendar.
