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Safe Passage From An Arab Angel
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Written By: Bradley D. Chapline
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Page One
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It was 1973. Turkey and Greece were engaged in war over the Island of Crete. The United States had sided with Greece. This had severely strained political relations between the two countries. There were reports of injustices being committed against Americans in Turkey.
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I was a 19 year old Marine Private first Class with less than a year in the Marines. With sandy blond hair, blue eyes and a golden tan, I was the epitomy of a young "gung ho" Marine.
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I had a distinct distaste for Arabs. My father had been a medic in World War II who fought the Germans in Northern Africa. As a child, my father reinforced within me that "Arabs were the true savages of the earth". As a Marine, our deployment to this region was to thwart Arab aggression.
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I received a message from the Red Cross while deployed that my father was near death. I had been granted emergency leave to return to the states. Our ship was positioned approximately 100 miles off the coast of Izmir, Turkey in the Aegean Sea. My Commanding Officer informed me that I would be flying via CH-46 Marine helicopter into the port of Izmir, Turkey. That upon my arrival, there would be a US Embassy Liaison Officer there to meet and transport me to the US Embassy for processing back to the states.
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At approximately 11:30 at night the Marine helicopter landed in the Port Authority complex of Izmir. I was in my full dress uniform. I began to depart the helicopter. Anxiety began to overwhelm me. The Port Authority complex was deserted. Not a person to be seen anywhere. The buildings and streets were darkened. The Marine chopper that I had flown in on had departed and was now no longer in my sight. I followed the orders of my Commanding Officer and waited for over two hours. There was no movement whatsoever. I now knew something was terribly wrong.
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I took my sea bag and hoisted it upon my shoulder and began walking in the direction where I saw lights in the distance. I had walked several miles on the side of a road that was almost totally pitch dark. I was frightened. Suddenly, I see the lights of a vehicle approaching me and driving in a wreckless manner. This small, old deterioriated vehicle passes me. Then, it abruptly comes to a stop and begins backing up. I stopped walking and laid down my sea bag. This man gets out of the vehicle and begins yelling at me in some type of Arab dialect. I now begin to shake uncontrollably as this Arab man approaches me aggressively. He grabs my sea bag and throws it in the back seat of his vehicle. He is still yelling at me. I cannot understand anything he is saying. I remain frozen, unable to move, riddled with fear. He then grabs me and pushes me into the passenger side of his vehicle. We sped away.
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There was no doubt that I had been taken hostage and probably would be killed. This Arab terrorist continued to yell at me in an extremely heightened state. I hear explosions in the distance. Suddenly, all power grids from afar are shutdown. The only light I can see is from the headlights of this terrorist's vehicle. Approximately four hours of desolate visions infect me. No signs of civilization. I am still confused as to where I am being taken to and for what reason. I was doing my best to emotionally prepare myself for whatever evil acts this Arab terrorist had in store for me. I now remember my dad telling me that Arabs would strip dead Americans of their personal belongings. My dad said that even though the Nazis were a brutal regime, the Arabs were the real enemies.
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I am shocked as suddenly I see lights of a city in the distance. My fear and anxiety begin to slightly subside as I am hoping there will be a chance that I'll survive. Approximately 15 minutes later we appraoch an airport. He parks his vehicle out front of the terminal. This Arab man then grabs my sea bag and throws it down on the pavement. He then grabs and pulls me from the vehicle. He is yelling at me pointing down to the pavement. I picked my sea bag up and brought it up to my shoulder. I am wondering if I should attempt an escape from him. But, I saw many armed Turkish guards standing post around the airport. I had been previously briefed on the brutality of their customs and police departments. Therefore, at this point I thought it would be unwise for an American to attempt running away in a Turkish airport. This terrorist then takes a harsh grip on my back and begins pushing me inside the terminal.
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I am quite surprised when this terrorist pushes me up to a ticket agents window. I then saw him buy a plane ticket with his own money. He now puts the plane ticket inside of my Marine dress jacket. He now shoves me into a long corridor where we arrive at a customs checkpoint. The Turkish guards look mean, nasty and violent. My anxiety levels begin to significantly increase again. I am thinking that these bastards are setting me up to make it look like they had good reason to kill me. Another shock, the customs guards' actions were quite to the contrary. They were very polite, and searched my belongings in a very respectful manner.
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I now willingly followed this Arab man who lead me down another corridor to a gate where I was board a plane. I still at this time had no idea what city I was in, or where I was flying to. As I took several steps in the direction of the plane I was to board, I turned and looked back at this Arab gentleman. I felt extremely bad with my thoughts and fears of this man that had infected me for probably the past six hours. For the first time, I approached him. We shook hands and gave each other a light embrace. I then boarded the plane. Just prior I turned around to give one last goodbye, but he was gone.
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