October 19, 2026 - On Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, at 6:22 a.m., a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into the Battalion Landing Team headquarters of the U.S. Marine compound at Beirut International Airport. Minutes later a second truck bomb struck French peacekeepers nearby. The attacks killed 241 Americans — 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers — the deadliest single day for the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima during World War II.
Those service members were part of the Multinational Force sent to Lebanon as peacekeepers during the civil war. About 300 troops were housed in the four-story building that collapsed in seconds.
Forty-three years later, Shelby County Memorial VFW Post 8904 will honor them with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the 1885 Historic Courthouse, Center, Texas, at 10am on Friday, October 23, 2026.
Fellow veterans and the public are invited to attend.
