JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Today marks 42 years since the bombings in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 273 people, including 241 Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune.
A somber observance was held Thursday at Lejeune Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville to honor those who lost their lives. The memorial, completed in 1986, has the names of each victim etched in stone.
Retired Marine Sgt. Ray Sledge said he still remembers that Sunday morning clearly.
“Six o’clock that morning, a bomb went off,” Sledge said. “I remember looking out my window and watching a building fall to the ground like pancakes, knowing good and well I had lost friends and family.”
As rescuers searched for survivors, families were coming to terms with life-changing losses.
Micheline Thompson married her husband, Brian, just a week before he was killed. She recalls their last conversation the night before the attack.
“The last few things he said to me, he felt like something very wrong was going to happen,” Thompson said. “It was the last time he was going to see me. He had never said words like this to me before.”
Thompson said the pain never goes away, but over time, you learn to live with it.
Former Jacksonville Mayor Zander Guy promised after the attacks to never forget the fallen, and the city has held a remembrance every year since.
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