When Sue John and her children, 15-year-old Christina and 11-year-old Dereck, left for Lebanon in early June, they expected the usual fun-filled vacation with family and friends.Instead, the family found themselves in the middle of an escalating war – watching Israeli war planes fly overhead and listening to reports of devastation throughout the country. The family was forced to evacuate – spending hours in lines in blistering heat.John, a Lebanese native, moved to the United States with her American husband 21 years ago, but returns to Lebanon each summer with their children.Known as “the Paris of the Middle East,” Lebanon is filled with upscale stores, beautiful beaches, mountains, historical places and friendly people. Lebanon remains a popular tourist haven.John and her kids were visiting her sister in the Jaj Mountains when she first heard of the fighting between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.Having grown up during the civil war in the 1970s and through numerous other skirmishes, John wasn’t concerned for their safety.”The dispute was in the southern part of the country and history has shown that it only lasts for a day or two, and things return to normal,” John said.They began to notice Israeli fighter jets flying over her sister’s summer home, and that was different from past excursions into Lebanon.”We started watching the news and the shelling was getting worse each day,” John said. Still, they continued to visit the beaches during the week and mountains on the weekends.At home in Colorado Springs, Wayne John was watching the events unfold with a growing uneasiness. The shelling was moving north, closer to his family.On July 13, Israeli warplanes and artillery strike hundreds of targets in Lebanon including Beirut’s international airport.”I began to worry when the airport was destroyed,” John said. “We weren’t close to the actual shelling so the kids didn’t hear anything and our visit continued as normal. We went to the beaches and restaurants and hoped it would end quickly.”However, the following day Israel expanded its blockade along the sea to include the cities of Tripoli, Sidon and Tyre. The power plant was bombed along with several fuel stations causing fuel shortages. The coverage on television showed the devastation to the country, along with horrible pictures of dead children and adults.”In America, the media doesn’t show the horrors of violence and war the way much of the rest of the world do,” John said.On July 16, the U.S. embassy announced plans to evacuate Americans in Lebanon. John’s husband, a retired military officer, called and told her to “get out now.””I felt safe where we were, but the violence was escalating and most of the main highways had been destroyed, so we began to prepare to leave,” John said.Thousands of people from many countries were evacuating, and John made the decision to wait a few days.”It was dangerous at that time to be on the roads and with so many people trying to get to the ports, I felt it was safer to wait,” John said.Israel and Hezbollah then agreed to a ceasefire to allow civilians to evacuate.The American embassy broadcasted over the radio the evacuation plans. John and her kids, her sister-in-law, Andree Farhat, and her children, would leave from the city of Jounieh (John’s home town) at 5:30 a.m. and board a shuttle to the Beirut port.Security was extremely tight and required numerous checks of passports and luggage.John described the scene as organized with people put into groups of about 35. They moved through three different tents and were then given a number for boarding the U.S. government chartered ship.”It was very hot, and the embassy personnel were handing out water bottles and providing chairs for the long waits,” John said.John and her extended family boarded a Greek cruise ship called the Orient Queen, which would take them to the island of Cypress, where they would fly home. Although it is only 140 miles from Beirut to Cypress, it took nine hours on the ship. “We were already tired by the time we got onto the ship; but they fed us lunch and gave us a cabin to sleep in,” John said.They arrived in Cypress at 11 p.m. with thousands of other evacuees.”It was just masses of people. We were exhausted and had to wait in line for over 12 hours,” John said.The family waited in temperatures above 100 degrees.Finally, around noon the next day, they boarded a flight to Baltimore with a scheduled stopover in Frankfurt, Germany. After a 13 -hour flight, the Johns and Farhats arrived in Baltimore. Upon entering the terminal, they were ushered to a special waiting area by the Red Cross. Tables had been set up, and there were people to help them with travel arrangements, hotels, food, etc. Each person received a bag filled with toiletries from the Red Cross.”The Red Cross was so wonderful to us,” John said. “Every need we had was met.”The families were taken to a hotel for much needed rest. They felt secure knowing that they would be returning to the Springs the next day.John said she would like people to know that almost every Lebanese wants peace in the country; they want to live normal lives.”Lebanon is the dumping ground for all its neighbors,” John said. Syria, Iran, and Israel fight inside our boarders. We have no issue with any of our boarding countries. We just want peace.”
