PORT CHARLOTTE — With three major storms and COVID-19 challenges in the past, construction has started on the Beirut Memorial Peacekeepers tower at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park in Port Charlotte.
Phase 1 construction began earlier this month, according to Charlotte County officials, with preliminary grading and the removal of existing sidewalks.
New construction also includes removing the old roadway to make room for a retaining wall and the memorial bowl.
The 45-foot Beirut Peacekeeper tower will be the focal point of the park. It’s designed to provide an educational experience telling the story of Beirut Peacekeepers and will serve as a living memorial for the 241 peacekeepers who were killed in the terrorist bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983.
It is named in honor of William R. Gaines Jr., a county resident and a Marine who was one of those servicemen.
“The facility is unlike any other we know of memorializing all our veterans and first responders,” Charlotte County Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch stated in a news release Friday.