“There are now 125 stars on our Memorial Wall, each representing a life that is dear to us, and will be for all time. We remain forever devoted to them, as they were to us. And we will strive to make them proud of us, as we are of them.”
CIA Director Mike Pompeo — May 22 2017
“They were young firefighters-turned-CIA operatives working thousands of miles from home in a remote corner of Southeast Asia. David W. Bevan, Darrell A. Eubanks and John S. Lewis, all in their mid-20s, were on a mission to drop supplies for anti-Communist forces in what was then known as the Kingdom of Laos. But on Aug. 13, 1961, the CIA-operated Air America plane carrying the men tried turning out of a mountaintop bowl near the Laotian capital of Vientiane and one of its wings hooked into a ridge. (…) The CIA operatives died, along with Air America’s two pilots.”
Ian Shapira — Washington Post (June 18 2017)
“The CIA specifically invited/recruited smokejumpers into the covert operations business for several reasons: 1) We were damned good looking. 2) We didn’t get airsick. (…) 6) We were not active duty military, so our direct involvement in an affair of arms didn’t constitute an official act of war. … 9) We were deniable. … 10) Did I mention that we were damn good looking?”
Don Courtney — Smokejumpers and the CIA
On May 22 2017, the Central Intelligence Agency held its 30th annual memorial ceremony. The ceremony began in 1987 and is attended each year by hundreds of employees, retirees, and family members of those who died in service with the CIA. After 56 years, the CIA finally acknowledged the death of three operatives who had died in Laos. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY Continue reading →
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