Lebanon Peace Keeping Force, Mooresville

This memorial was placed in honor of Lance Corporal Timothy McNeely, a Mooresville native and one of 241 United States Marines and Seamen killed on October 23, 1983 when a terrorist truck bomb destroyed their four-story barracks building. This was the largest loss of life in a single action since the Vietnam War and the worst act of terrorism against Americans up to that time. The Marines were intended to be a buffer between factions in an ongoing civil war but became a target themselves. The peace-keeping mission lasted from August 1982 until August 1984 with a total loss of 268 dead and hundreds wounded. “LEAST WE FORGET THAT PEACE HAS A PRICE” / IN MEMORIAL TO OUR MARINES AND SAILORS OF / THE MULTI-NATIONAL PEACE KEEPING FORCE / LEBANON – 1983 – 1984 / NORTH CAROLINA SEMPER FIDELIS /