The top Marine Corps commander will honor the 241 Americans killed in the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.
Commandant Gen. James Amos will speak Wednesday at a memorial near Camp Lejune, N.C. Amos and survivors will mark the 30th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on Americans before 9/11, the Associated Press reports.
On Oct. 23, 1983, 306 people, including 221 Marines from Camp Lejune’s 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, were killed when two suicide bombers drove truck bombs into units that American and French troops had been using as barracks. Dwindling domestic support after the attacks helped hasten the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Lebanon the following year.
The attack was the single deadliest day for the Marine Corps since World War II.
[AP]