25th anniversary of Beirut bombing marked

updated 2:42 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2008

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - About 1,000 Marines and others at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina are honoring nearly 300 people who died when suicide bombers attacked a U.S. barracks in Beirut in 1983.

The bombing occurred while Marines were part of an international peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway told visitors in Thursday that none of the victims thought they would die on a mission for peace.

Almost 250 American serviceman — including 220 Marines — were killed when two truck bombs struck the Marine barracks. Another 60 Americans were injured.

The attack was the deadliest single-day death toll in Marine Corps history since the Battle of Iwo Jima.

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