“Before September 11, There Was October 23”

Posted on October 23, 2003

It passed with little note or fanfare, but today marked the 20th anniversary of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 241 U.S. soldiers, sailors, and Marines.

NPR ran a good story about a reunion of the survivors, and some of the memories they still carry with them. It’s worth your time to listen to the story, and take a moment to honor the memory of the servicepeople who died that day, victims of a poorly planned mission, the wrong force in the wrong place at the wrong time.