Beirut Peacekeepers

Human Interest

Flagpole from Marine barracks in Beirut comes to Port Charlotte park; part of peacekeepers project

Michael Braun

A metal pole which once carried U.S. and Marine Corps flags over a military site in Lebanon will return to its proper vertical stance — but this time it will stand tall for veterans and the public to see in a special area at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park in Charlotte County.The pole was brought to the Gaines park on Wednesday but the route it took to get to the Charlotte County location was a long and tragic one.
Human Interest

Rising to remember: Ground broken for Beirut Peacekeepers Memorial Tower in Port Charlotte

Michael Braun and Andrea Melendez

Ground was broken Wednesday in Charlotte County for the Beirut Peacekeepers Tower at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park.The tower will memorialize the 241 Americans killed 40 years ago in the Oct. 23, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War.