JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Today marks 42 years since the bombings in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 273 people, including 241 Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune.

A somber observance was held Thursday at Lejeune Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville to honor those who lost their lives. The memorial, completed in 1986, has the names of each victim etched in stone.

Retired Marine Sgt. Ray Sledge said he still remembers that Sunday morning clearly.

“Six o’clock that morning, a bomb went off,” Sledge said. “I remember looking out my window and watching a building fall to the ground like pancakes, knowing good and well I had lost friends and family.”

As rescuers searched for survivors, families were coming to terms with life-changing losses.

Micheline Thompson married her husband, Brian, just a

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