Press Releases 2009

U.S. Embassy Commemorates the 1983 and 1984 Bombings

April 16, 2009

Today, Ambassador Michele J. Sison presided over the annual commemoration ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Awkar honoring those who lost their lives serving the United States in Lebanon.   American and Lebanese staff members of the U.S. Embassy, survivors of the attacks, and guests remembered their lost colleagues and friends knowing that each of them had worked for the strong and enduring relationship between Lebanon and the United States.

The ceremony occurred adjacent to the granite memory on the Embassy grounds.  This memorial honors the fifty-two Lebanese and Americans who died April 18, 1983 when the former Embassy was bombed, the nine who died September 20, 1984 bombing of  the Embassy annex, the 241 U.S. servicemen who were killed in the October 23, 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks, and those who were lost in other  tragic incidents from 1976 to 1995.    The memorial is an enduring reminder of the sacrifices made by so many who believed in the relationship between Lebanon and the United States.

At Ambassador Sison’s request, participants observed a moment of silence in honor of  all of those who died working for the cause of peace and democracy in Lebanon.