DOB/DOD: July 22, 1961 (Camden, NJ) – October 23, 1983; 22 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Joanne Hamilton on July 4, 1980, in Groton, Connecticut.
CHILDREN: One son, William Jr.
LOCAL ADDRESS: 160 Midway Oval, Groton
ENLISTMENT: August 27, 1981
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 3381, Food Service Specialist
UNIT: 24th Marine Amphibious Unit
FAMILY: Born to Frank D. (1919-2001) and Florine Green Hart (1931-1977). Four brothers, David (1954-1978), Eugene (1959-2009), Frankie, and Jerry. Three sisters, Constance Hart, Keturah Hart, and Diane Kirby.
Robert Fitch High School (Groton, Connecticut) Class of 1981. A 1979 yearbook photo is below. Does not appear in the 1980 or 1981 yearbooks.
From The Day (New London, Connecticut) on November 3, 1983
By Jacky Flinn | Day Staff Writer
MARINE NOW MISSING
Marine Lance Corporal William Hart, son of Frank Hart of Midway Oval, Groton, was listed today as missing in action after the October 23 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.
A spokeswoman for the Marine Corps headquarters at the Department of Defense in Washington said this morning Hart’s name is now on the missing list, but further information is not available.
Until today, Hart was not officially on the lists of casualties, missing, or those safe, causing great concern to his family.
“My friends keep saying ‘Don’t give up, ’” said the father this morning. “We can only hope for the best.”
Hart said the Marines told his daughter-in-law, Joanne, who is in South Carolina at Parris Island, that more news might be forthcoming in a few days. He learned that his son is listed as missing in a telephone call from his Daughter-in-law.
His son said in his last letter home that he expected to return by November 15.
From The Hartford Courant on November 10, 1983
By Jeff Mill | Courant Correspondent
GROTON FAMILY FINALLY LEARNS MARINE DIED IN BEIRUT ATTACK
GROTON — After 16 days of waiting for news of Lance Corporal William Hart, a Marine assigned to Beirut, Lebanon — 16 days of watching every television news broadcast, 16 days during which the military could provide no information — Hart’s family has been told he is dead.
Hart’s family was informed in a telephone call from the Pentagon last night that the 22-year-old man has become the eighth Connecticut resident known to have died in the bombing of the Marine headquarters in Beirut on October 23. That explosion took the lives of more than 230 Marines.
The news that William had been killed ended anxious days of uncertainty for the Hart family.
“We’ve been on pins and needles since we heard the news of the terrorist attack in Beirut,” Frank Hart said. “We knew William was in Lebanon, but we didn’t know what had happened to him.”
For nearly two weeks after the bombing, the Marines were unable to provide any information on William’s status, his father said.
An electrical worker at the Electric Boat shipyard, Hart said his family members watched newscast after newscast in hopes of catching a glimpse of his son.
William Hart, the fifth of six children, had written his family in September to say he expected to leave Lebanon in time to spend Christmas at home.
Officials said the Marine’s body is expected to be flown from the Dover Air Force Base [Delaware] to Hartford this morning.
Tentative plans call for a funeral at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Lester Gee Funeral Home in New London, followed by burial in Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Hart’s widow, Joanne, and the couple’s 19-month-old child, William Jr., have left their home at Parris Island, S.C., and are returning to Groton. Joanne Hart is also a Groton native.
From The Day (New London, Connecticut) on November 10, 1983
MARINE’S BURIAL SET SATURDAY
GROTON — Funeral services will be conducted Saturday morning in New London for the last Marine from Connecticut to be declared dead after the October 23 terrorist bombing of the Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Lance Corporal William Hart, a 22-year-old Fitch Senior High School graduate, was the last of the 41 from this state to be accounted for, said Staff Sergeant Mark S. Gentile, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps in Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
Hart’s father, Frank Hart of 158-160 Midway Oval, learned late Tuesday night that his son had died in the explosion. The family had worried for more than two weeks without official word about the young Marine.
Hart was also among the last dozen Marines nationwide to be identified.
Seven Marines remain on the list of missing, said Jeanne Fallen, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Headquarters at the Department of Defense in Washington.
She said defense officials believe all the bodies have been found, but some still are considered missing because the remains have not been identified. Dental records and fingerprints are being used to identify the last seven.
The older Hart said a Marine lieutenant told him, when he learned of his son’s death, that the Marine had been identified by dental records.
Of the 41 Marines from Connecticut who had been stationed in Lebanon at the time of the bombing, eight were killed in action, three were wounded, and the rest were safe.
Word was slow to trickle down, not only because of the identification problems, but also because some Marines were not aware they were listed as missing.
“Three of them on our MIA (missing in action) said they were working so hard on recovery details that they didn’t realize they were being looked for at musters,” explained Gentile.
Among the eight who were killed was Lance Cpl. Devon Sundar, 23, of Stamford, whose funeral service will be Saturday morning, and Staff Sergeant Thomas G. Smith, 25, of Middletown, whose service is today.
Funeral services for Hart will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Lester Gee Funeral Home, 108 Blinman Street, New London, followed by burial at Cedar Grove Cemetery with military honors.
Calling hours are from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday. Hart was born in Camden, New Jersey, on July 22, 1961. His mother was the late Florine Green Hart. The Marine spent most of his life in Groton, graduating in 1980 from Fitch Senior High School and working at the Gregory Package Store and the Universal Grocery Store before entering the service.
He married the former Joanne Hamilton on July 4, 1980, in Groton. Besides his wife and father, survivors include a son, William Hart Jr., at home; three brothers, Eugene and Jerry, both of Groton, and Frankie Hart of Queens, N.Y.; and three sisters, Keturah Hart of Groton, Constance Hart of New London, and Diane Kirby of New York City.
The Reemergence of Lance Corporal William Hart From the Ashes
By Tom Callinan [USMC 1970-1971] and Life Member of TRD #1334 (used with permission)
There is a saying that no one is truly dead until he has been forgotten. If that’s the case, then Lance Corporal William Hart, a 1981 graduate of Robert E. Fitch High School in Groton, Connecticut, has become a phoenix of sorts. On October 23, 1983, Lance Corporal Hart was among the hundreds who were killed in the horrific terrorist bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. And after his burial in New London’s Cedar Hill Cemetery, he pretty much disappeared from public memory.
However, in 2018, Jennifer McNeil-Donnel, a Fitch H.S. classmate of William Hart’s, and who in adulthood had become the mother of two Marines herself, realized that William was not listed as being among the deceased Connecticut servicemen killed in the Beirut bombing. Jennifer took it upon herself to notify Fitch High School, which resulted in a plaque in honor of Lance Corporal Hart’s service and sacrifice being installed in their alma mater’s lobby.
A while later, she remembered that an old friend, Dave Kargul, a New London native and a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, was then serving as the Chaplain of the Thames River Detachment (TRD) #1334 of the Marine Corps League’s Department of Connecticut. She notified him about Lance Corporal Hart’s forgotten gravesite.
Representing New London County, CT, each year on the weekend of Memorial Day, it has become a tradition for the TRD to visit the graves of its deceased detachment members, to place new American and Marine Corps flags on their graves, to show that, despite the fact that they have departed from our physical presence, they have not been forgotten. Prior to 2023, the TRD was neither aware of Lance Corporal William Hart’s existence nor that he was interred in New London. But after learning about the burial site’s location, Marine Kargul passed the word, and each year since then, that long-forgotten grave has been decorated with new flags. The fact that Lance Corporal Hart’s death predated the founding of the TRD by 26 years didn’t matter. He was a New London County Marine, and the TRD had to honor our brother Marine.
In 2024, the TRD felt that was not enough, so the members decided to establish a $250 cash award in memory of Lance Corporal Hart, for a graduating senior from Fitch H.S., who plans on enlisting in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States. Since expressions of patriotism in the United States have been waning in recent years, it was hoped that this modest cash award would further honor Lance Corporal Hart’s service and sacrifice and might inspire others to follow in his footsteps, in service to our country.
For the initial year of their cash award (2025), TRD #1334 has provided the seed money and will administer it in future years, soliciting funds from donations, bequests, grants, Fitch H.S. alumni, and targeted fundraisers. Hopefully, the generosity of New London County citizens and businesses will enable the TRD to present annual cash awards indefinitely into the future. In that way, they will continue to remember the name and sacrifice of one of their own, while supporting Fitch High School graduates who choose to follow the path of military service.
The TRD’s application form is available from Ms. Jennifer Allanach, Fitch High School’s College and Career Counselor, and the first award was made on June 3rd of 2025, in this, the Semi-Quincentennial year of the Marine Corps’ founding in 1775 as The Continental Marines.
The recipient was Omkari R. Mehta of Groton, an outstanding student and a member of the Navy Junior ROTC at Fitch High School. In reading her application, and the endorsement of her Senior Naval Science Instructor, Terance J. Henkle, LCDR USN (Ret), who wrote, she will “succeed in any program or direction she chooses.” She will soon be entering the U.S. Air Force, with hopes of becoming an astronaut and one day working for NASA.
Marine Dave Kargul and Jennifer McNeil-Donnel were able to see their efforts to preserve the name and sacrifice of Lance Corporal William Hart come to fruition. Anyone wishing to donate to the Lance Corporal William Hart Memorial Fund should send their checks [made payable to the Thames River Detachment #1334, MCL with LCpl Wm. Hart Mem. Fund in the Memo line, to TRD #1334, P.O. Box 462, Uncasville, CT 06382.
Buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, 638 Broad Street, New London, Connecticut; Section 36, Row A, Plot 6B.
END