WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 1983 (UPI) -- President Reagan has grappled with Middle East problems since he took office. Sunday the Lebanese crisis hit home in the harshest manner -- at least 146 Marines dead and 75 wounded in a kamikaze attack on their barracks While spending the weekend at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, Reagan learned at 2:27 a.m. EDT Sunday that two hours earlier a truck loaded with explosives crashed into the concrete headquarters where the Marines were sleeping and demolished the building.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 23, 1983 (UPI) - The U.S. Marines lost more men in a single suicide bomb attack Sunday than in the previous 14 months of service as peacekeepers in Lebanon. The same was true for their French counterparts.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 23, 1983 (UPI) - The sabbath, normally a time of solitude for the U.S. Marines in Beirut, became a time for carnage Sunday -- the most shocking and deadly in 14 months of peacekeeping duty.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 1983 (UPI) - President Reagan delivered the following statement at the White House Sunday on the attacks in Beirut that killed more than 70 U.S. Marines:''I'm not going to take any questions this morning because we are going right into meetings on the events that have taken place on this tragic weekend. But I would like to make this statement.

The following is a chronology of events in Lebanon since the June 1982 Israeli invasion:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 1983 (UPI) - President Reagan, denouncing the ''bestial nature'' of terrorist bombings in Lebanon that killed scores of American and French troops, vowed Sunday foes of the peace-keeping force cannot ''drive us out.''

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 1983 (UPI) - Despite the bombing deaths of more than 100 Marines in Beirut Sunday, nothing in the War Powers Act or subsequent agreements requires President Reagan to go back to Congress to keep U.S. troops in Lebanon.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 1983 (UPI) -- Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said Sunday the United States should immediately beef up its forces in Beirut to prevent further decimation of Marine ranks, then phase out the American presence.''This has been a disaster waiting to happen,'' Nunn said of Sunday's bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut that left at least 120 Americans dead.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 1983 (UPI) -- Excerpts from President Reagan's statement and answers to questions at a meeting with a group of journalists Monday at the White House:Yesterday's acts of terrorism in Beirut that killed so many young American and French servicemen were a horrifying reminder of the type of enemy we face in many critical areas of the world today -- vicious, cowardly and ruthless.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 1983 (UPI) -- President Reagan vowed Thursday night to maintain the U.S. military presence in Lebanon, saying to withdraw now would ''dishonor'' the 225 Marines killed in the Beirut bombing.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 27, 1983 (UPI) - A key sentry during the bomb attack that killed 221 U.S. servicemen had no magazine in his rifle when a truck loaded with explosives barreled into the Marine headquarters, a Marine officer said today.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 28, 1983 (UPI) - One week after the bombing that took the lives of more than 200 American servicemen, the Marine bastion at Beirut airport is getting the kind of defenses that might have prevented the suicide attack.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 30, 1983 (UPI) -- Here are some questions and answers about the U.S. Marine peace-keeping role in Lebanon:Question: When did the Marines go to Lebanon?

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 1, 1983 (UPI) - Recovery teams are ''pretty certain'' that all bodies have been removed from the U.S. Marine headquarters destroyed by the suicide bombing Oct. 23 that killed at least 230 American servicemen, a Marine spokesman said There still was no date set for the memorial service for the American dead, said Capt. Wayne Jones.

PARIS, Nov. 2, 1983 (UPI) -- France paid tribute Wednesday to the 58 soldiers killed in the Beirut bombing with President Francois Mitterrand pinning medals on each of the tricoleur-draped coffins lined up at Napoleon's tomb.