--- title: "That time a soldier used a payphone to call in artillery support during the invasion of Grenada" description: "Everyone knows someone used a payphone to call in support during the invasion of Grenada, but no one knows exactly who it was." date: "2018-05-28" modified: "2020-10-21" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/that-time-a-soldier-used-a-payphone-to-call-back-to-the-us-to-get-artillery-support-in-grenada/" categories: - "History" tags: - "Grenada" - "Navy SEALs" - "Rangers" --- # That time a soldier used a payphone to call in artillery support during the invasion of Grenada ![payphone invasion of grenada]() *(Department of Defense)* In October 1983, the Caribbean nation of Grenada experienced a series of bloody coups, which threatened American interests as well as U.S. citizens on the island. In a controversial move, President Ronald Reagan decided to launch Operation Urgent Fury, an invasion of the island nation (and [the first real-world test of the all-volunteer force in combat]()). ![payphone invasion of grenada ]() *(U.S. Army)* The U.S. rapid deployment force was essentially an all-star team comprising the 1st and 2nd Ranger Battalions, the 82nd Airborne, U.S. Marines, Delta Force, and Navy SEALs. But it was still a far cry from the joint capabilities we have today, and they were going into a situation where the Grenadian forces were bolstered by communist troops from the Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba, and Bulgaria. While the strength of the invasion force was formidable, a series of planning, intelligence, communication, and coordination issues plagued their interoperability (and led to Congress reorganizing the entire Department of Defense). Army helicopters couldn't refuel on Navy ships. There was zero intelligence information coming from the CIA. Then, Army Rangers landed on the island in the middle of the day. The list of Urgent Fury mistakes is a long one, but one snafu was so huge it became legend. The basic story is that communist troops pinned down a unit on the island. Interoperability and communication were so poor that they were unable to call for support from anywhere using their radios. A member of the unit pulled out his credit card and made a long-distance call by commercial phone lines to their home base, which patched it through to the Urgent Fury command, who passed the order down to the requested support. Everyone knows it happened, but who actually did it has been lost to history, it seems. ![payphone invasion of grenada ]() The devil is in the details. The Navy SEALs Museum says the caller was from a group of [Navy SEALs in the governor's mansion](). He called Fort Bragg for support from an AC-130 gunship overhead. The gunship's support enabled the SEALs to remain in position until relieved by a force of Recon Marines the following day. Some on the ground with the SEALs in Grenada said it was for [naval fire support from nearby ships](). The story is recounted in Mark Adkins' [Urgent Fury: The Battle for Grenada](). Another report says it was a U.S. Army "trooper" (presumably meaning "paratrooper") who called his *wife* to request air support from the Navy. Screenwriter and Vietnam veteran James Carabatsos incorporated the event into his script for "Heartbreak Ridge" after reading about [an account from members of the 82nd Airborne](). In the version he heard, paratroopers used a payphone and a calling card to call Fort Bragg to request fire support. In his 2011 memoir, "[In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir]()," former Vice President Dick Cheney recalls visiting the island as a congressman and listening to an Army officer tell the story. "An army officer who had needed artillery support... could look out to sea and see naval vessels on the horizon, but he had no way to talk to them. So he used his personal credit card in a payphone, placed a call to Fort Bragg, asked Bragg to contact the Pentagon, had the Pentagon contact the Navy, who in turn told the commander off the coast to get this poor guy some artillery support. Clearly a new system was needed." The story has a happy ending (from the American point of view, anyway). These days, the U.S. invasion is remembered by the Grenadian people as an overwhelmingly good thing, as a series of bloody communist revolutions ended with the elections following the invasion. Grenada marks the anniversary of the U.S. intervention with a national holiday, its own Thanksgiving Day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7RqMDU9eDI ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()