The Memorial, installed in the Duty & Sacrifice Plaza in the Waterfront District of Philadelphia, was erected by the families of Philadelphia Marine casualties of the Beirut Peace Keeping Mission and dedicated on October 20, 1985 honoring the nine marine casualties of the Beirut Peace Keeping Mission who died in the bombing on October, 23, 1983.

Cpl. Moses Arnold, Jr.
Sgt. John J. Bonk, Jr.
Cpl. Thomas A Hairston
Sgt. Gilbert Hanton
Cpl. John F. Muffler
Sgt. Raphael Pomades-Torres
PFC. Rui Manuel A Reivas
Cpl. Louis G. Rotondo
Sgt. Allen D. Wesley

The Memorial is inscribed, “If you forget my death, then I die in vain.’

The History Behind the Memorial

In 1981 the U.S. brokered a ceasefire between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel to end their involvement in the conflict between Lebanon's pro-government and pro-Syrian factions. The ceasefire held until June 3, 1982.Three days later, Israel reentered the PLO-controlled West Beirut and blockaded the city in order to contain insurgency. In August 1982 an international peacekeeping force was created following the the besieged PLO acceded to a new agreement for their withdrawal. The agreement provided for the deployment of a Multinational Force to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces in evacuating the PLO, Syrian forces and other foreign combatants involved in Lebanon's civil war.

The four-nation Multinational Force (MNF) was created as an interposition force meant to oversee the peaceful withdrawal of the PLO. The participants included the U.S. Multinational Force (USMNF), which consisted of four different Marine Amphibious Units (MAUs); British 1st Dragoon Guards cavalry regiment; the 1st inter-arm Foreign and French Brigade, 4 Foreign Legion Regiments, 28 French Armed Forces regiments including French and Foreign paratroopers, units of the National Gendarmerie, Italian paratroopers from the Folgore Brigade, infantry units from the Bersaglieri regiments and Marines of the San Marco Regiment.