Louisville, Kentucky; October 23, 2018: On the 35th anniversary of the bombing of Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, patriotic citizens and the local Marine Corps community gathered at the Patriots Peace Memorial on the banks of the Ohio River to remember the 241 Americans, who perished in the deadliest attack on United States Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. Among the dead were seven Kentuckians, who had previously been enshrined at the Patriots Peace Memorial, as their deaths were initially classified as non-combat by the Department of Defense, in view of their declared international peace-keeping mission. During a respectful commemorative ceremony, facilitated by LtCol E. Scott Hoffman, USMC (Ret), from its inception to its fruition, CDR Benedict Brown, CHC, USN (Ret) offered a poignant invocation; MajGen Richard A. Huck, USMC (Ret), former Commanding General, 2nd Marine Division, delivered reflective remarks on the sacrifice of these young lives and their unrealized potential. Each Kentuckian killed in the Beirut bombing was individually recognized with a bell ringing tribute, as was Col William R. “Rich” Higgins, USMC, a Kentuckian, who was kidnapped in 1988 by Hizballah terrorists in Lebanon, tortured and killed. His body was recovered in 1991 and is interred in Quantico National Cemetery. Support for this ceremony encompassed the entire local Marine Corps community, to include a color guard from Echo Company, 4th Tank Battalion, Fort Knox, KY; bell ringing tribute by Maj Allen d. Broussard, USMC (Ret), Marine Corps League, Kentuckiana Detachment #729; Maj Gary J. Eady, USMC (Ret), Chairnan, Patriots Peace Memorial Committee; and the Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Kentucky. Photographs by Jack Cooney in Galleries section.
