Reagan ends Asian trip , pledges more support for S . Korea

A lthough to m ost N o tre Dame and Saint M ary ’s students the c ris is in Lebanon is a far-away event seen o n ­ ly th ro u g h newspaper and te lev is ion reports, tw o students experience it from a m ore personal v ie w p o in t Sheila W halen, a Saint M ary ’s sopho­ m ore, has rece ived several le tte rs fro m M arines stationed there. Ron Karam, a freshm an from Pangborn, is from B e iru t and his fam ily lives there. W halen firs t w ro te to the Marines at the U.S. Embassy in late Septem ­ be r “ so they ’d kn o w they ’d been rem em bered .” She d id not kn o w any o f the M arines personally, so she addressed he r le tte rs to the embassy in B e iru t. "1 d id n ’t expect a response o r anything, ” said W halen, “ so I was ve ry surprised w hen I got the le t­ ters.” One M arine w ro te , “ Y ours is the firs t type o f th is le tte r w e have rece ived, and it rea lly raised the m ora le o f the M arines.” A second M arine w ro te , “ W e artall ve ry p ro u d o f w ha t w e are d o in g ove r here .” A no th e r added, “ 1 love m y c o u n try and o u r w ay o f life, so I guess you have to g ive in o rd e r to receive, right?” W ha len ’s le tte r a rrived in B e iru t the day before the bom b ing o f the U.S. headquarters, w h ic h k ille d ove r 200 Marines. In spite o f the b o m ­ bing, W halen said the le tte rs dem onstra te the M arines feel that w hat they are d o in g is rig h t, and show a de te rm ina tion no t to be fo rced out. The Lebanese peop le also be lieve w hat the Marines are do ing is righ t, and d o n ’t w ant them to p u ll out, acco rd ing to Karam. A lthough Karam a ttended high school in Paris, he has lived in B e iru t m ost o f h is life , and tries to re tu rn there on vaca­ tions. “ Most o f the Lebanese feel the Marines should be there ,” Karam