[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 177 (Thursday, October 26, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MOMENT OF SILENCE HONORING VICTIMS OF BOMBINGS IN BEIRUT, LEBANON

  (Mr. MURPHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor those servicemembers 
whose lives were taken in the tragic Beirut bombing 40 years ago.
  On October 23, 1983, 2 suicide bombers took the lives of 220 marines, 
18 sailors, and 3 soldiers at the marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, 
wounding another 128 Americans.
  A few minutes later, in a coordinated attack, another suicide bomber 
blew up the French barracks about 4 miles away, killing 58 French 
paratroopers.
  On Monday, my good friend Congressman   Greg Pence--who had been 
stationed in these barracks not a week prior to the attack--and I 
attended the 40th anniversary memorial service in my district, in 
Jacksonville, North Carolina.
  Jacksonville is home to the world renowned Camp Lejeune, for which 
the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit deployed to Beirut under the direction 
of President Ronald Reagan.
  Their mission was a peacekeeping one. Today, etched in the stone of 
the Beirut Memorial in Jacksonville is a line that reads: ``They came 
in peace.''
  Eastern North Carolina continues to grief today for the loss of life 
and the loss of loved ones in the devastating attack 40 years ago.
  Mr. Speaker, in honor of these fallen heroes, I ask that the House 
observe a moment of silence.

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