Sailor, Expert Marksman Supported Marines in Beirut 41 Years Ago

On Oct. 22, 1983, Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael W. Gorchinski volunteered to go ashore from the battleship USS New Jersey to assist Marines in Beirut with a radar installation problem at the Marine barracks.

The New Jersey was in the eastern Mediterranean Sea supporting the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, which was under small arms and mortar attack by Hezbollah.

Gorchinski, an electronics technician, maintained and repaired the ship's communications and navigation equipment, including radars.

The radar was used to detect and track incoming mortar and artillery rounds, thereby aiding in targeting with a great degree of accuracy, so the chief's assistance was important.

Early the next day, 41 years ago today, Gorchinski was among the 241 service members killed in the barracks by a suicide truck bomber.

Following Gorchinski's death, the chiefs aboard the New Jersey pitched in to commission an oil painting of their beloved chief. It still hangs in the ship, now maintained by the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, in Camden, New Jersey.

Gorchinski enlisted in the Navy in 1967 and served aboard the guided missile cruiser USS Gridley from 1974 to 1976 and later on the USS New Jersey from 1980 to 1983.

And Gorchinski was more than an electronics technician and revered chief.

The chief was one of the Navy's best marksmen ever, said Navy Cmdr. David Michalak, the current commander of the Navy marksmanship team.

In 1974, Gorchinski earned the Navy Distinguished Rifle badge, the highest award for rifle marksmanship in the armed forces and at the civilian level. Since the award's inception in 1909 only 420 badges have been awarded to sailors, Michalak said.

In 1982, Gorchinski won the Arleigh Burke Trophy during the national rifle match at Camp Perry, Ohio. The trophy is awarded to the sailor with the highest combined score of the national trophy individual rifle match and individual score during the rifle team match. Michalak said the trophy itself is the steel helmet worn by Navy Adm. Arleigh Albert Burke throughout the entire Pacific Campaign of World War II.

When Gorchinski was killed, he left behind his wife Judy and their children: Christina JoAnn, 6; Kevin Michael, 3; and Valerie Marie, 10 months old.

Gorchinski's name is engraved on the Beirut Memorial at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Dedicated Oct. 22, 1988, the memorial features a wall with 273 names and the words "They Came in Peace." In addition to the inscribed names of those who died in Beirut and those who have died since of injuries from that blast, the memorial wall includes the names of three Marine pilots who were killed in Grenada.

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