31 years after the Beirut barracks bombing, the Marines are back in Beirut

Thirty-one years ago today, Islamic terrorists set off a truck bomb at the Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American servicemen, mostly Marines. The attack prompted the American withdrawal from Lebanon. Well, the Marines are back:

As of early September, Marine security guards are again manning Post One in Beirut. From their perch in the lobby they screen building visitors and, most importantly, safeguard classified information for the first time since the 1980s.
The post holds profound significance for Marines young and old. The embassy there was bombed in 1983 and again in 1984. But the most vicious attack occurred in October 1983 when a suicide bomber in an explosive-laden truck destroyed the Marine Corps barracks at the Beirut airport killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. Official investigations would later reveal that the explosion was the largest non-nuclear blast in history up to that point — equivalent to 21,000 pounds of TNT.
It was the single biggest loss of Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima.

You don't see much media coverage of the bombing anniversary these days, but the Marines remember. How do you forget something like this?

Photo credit is Bill Foley of The Associated Press.