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Charlotte County hosts remembrance event for Americans killed in Beirut

Author: Haley Zarcone Writer: Rachel Murphy
Published: Updated:
Charlotte County meeting honors lives lost (CREDIT: WINK NewS)

A remembrance event for Americans killed on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon was held in Charlotte County.

On Oct. 21, 1983, 241 Americans were killed in Beirut, Lebanon when a suicide bomber drove a truck into the building serving as their barracks. The same terrorist who planned the attack also helped plan the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Those lives were honored Saturday at Veterans Memorial Park. The memorial began with a flyover from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is significant in the history of the Marines. This is in our community as we are probably the most veteran-friendly county. In the state of Florida, we have about 30,000 veterans that live in Charlotte County and the 206,000 population,” said Stephen R. Deutsch, commissioner of Charlotte County.

The park is now in the works of building a Beirut Peacekeepers Memorial Tower. Commissioner Deutsch told WINK News the addition is going to both educate the community and continue to keep the memory of those fallen American troops alive in Southwest Florida

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