Subject: SFC Terry Lee Gilden, USA Is Being Posthumously Honored By The Department of StateI was recently contacted by a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security who is assisting their Public Affair office. SFC Terry Lee Gilden, USA, has been approved to be included on the Diplomatic Security Memorial Wall, which honors those that died in service to Diplomatic Security. The Diplomatic Security Memorial Wall will be unveiled at the Department of State building on 18 September 2015. After that date you can access the virtual wall on the internet. Terry's widow Mary and their daughter who was one years old when Terry was killed will be invited to attend the ceremony.
For those of you that don't know the details; SFC Terry Lee Gilden was killed on 18 April 1983, at the U.S. Embassy, Beirut, Lebanon during a terrorist truck bombing attack on the embassy. Terry was assigned to A Squadron at the time of his death. Terry was supporting the American Ambassador's protective detail at the time of his death. The bombing was the work of an Iranian Shiite Hezbollah "Party of God" group. The suicide bomber drove a pickup truck containing gas-enhanced explosive into the embassy. The blast killed 17 Americans, which included a Marine Corps guard, three soldiers, seven Central Intelligence Agency personnel, and 46 foreign nationals. Terry was our unit's first loss to the enemy.
I am working with the Department of State to have one of our Army EOD techs added to the Diplomatic Security Memorial Wall sometime in the future. MSG James Earl "Duke" Austin was killed on 18 February 1971, outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, supporting the U.S. embassy on a classified mission.
Respectfully,
Mike R. Vining, SGM USA (Retired)
No link, pulled from an email. More info available at Google.