The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets honored U.S. Marine 2nd Lt. Maurice Hukill (’81 B.S. in forestry and wildlife) by engraving his name into one of the pylons at the War Memorial on campus. Hukill was one of 241 American servicemen killed in the terrorist bombing attack on the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 23, 1983.

Hukill was a civilian student at Virginia Tech, and after graduating earned his commission in the U.S. Marine Corps through officer candidate school. He was deployed to Beirut in 1983 as part of an international peacekeeping force during the Lebanese Civil War when a suicide bomber drove a truck full of explosives into a Marine barracks, killing 220 Marines, 18 U.S. Navy personnel, and three U.S. Army soldiers.

Members of the Hukill family attended the Pylon Dedication Ceremony on May 12. The Pylons are etched with the names of every Virginia Tech student and graduate who has died defending our nation’s freedom beginning with those lost during World War I; Hukill’s is the 428th name to be added. For the last 11 years, the family has returned to campus to attend the spring U.S. Naval commissioning ceremony, where they present a ceremonial saber to the top Marine graduate of the Naval ROTC program.

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