REMEMBERING THE US MARINE CORPS BARRACKS BOMBING

It has been 40 years since the October 23, 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing at Beirut, Lebanon which took the lives of 241 US service members. In a memorial ceremony on Monday at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy C. Shea remarked:

“The motto of the U.S. Marine Corps is semper fidelis, always faithful. Today, 40 years after the Marine Corps Barracks bombing, we are forever faithful to the memory of those 241 servicemen and all those – Americans, Lebanese, and others – who have given their lives in support of peace.”

We remember the Marine Corps Barracks Bombing for a number of reasons, first for the monumental loss of life; as the Marine Corps Times noted, the bombing “remains the largest single-day loss of life for Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.” The bombing was also the largest non-nuclear blast in history, actually “lifting the barracks building off its foundations.”

But perhaps what incites our national conscience even more about the bombing, and what keeps it alive in our hearts and minds, is that the mission in Beirut was one of peace. Indeed, the oft repeated dedication to the lives of the lost service members is “They Came in Peace,” words which also marked the memorial wreath laid at the Embassy. Words that are etched in a granite in Jacksonville, North Carolina, home to the memorial of those killed in the attack.

From the team at Greene & Marusak, we hope that you will join us in a moment of remembrance of those lives lost, and continue to support our active duty service members near and abroad, so that all may return home safely.

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