List of USAID personnel who died while serving abroad

Over 100 personnel and contractors of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are listed as having died while serving abroad, with the majority of incidents occurring during the Vietnam War - where over 50 USAID personnel died in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Causes of death include assassinations, bombings, ambushes, accidents, and suicides.

The roles of those killed vary widely — public safety advisors working under the Office of Public Safety (OPS), agricultural experts, and health officers among them. The OPS has been quantitatively classified as the most dangerous occupation within USAID: the task of a "Public Safety Advisor" was to train police forces around the world, because at the time, security was considered part of the trivariate of D's: "Diplomacy, Development, and Defense." The majority of these public safety officers were former high-ranking police officers in the United States. The Office of Public Safety was shuttered in 1973 after much controversy.Several USAID personnel died in POW and concentration camps, such as Gustav Crane Hertz, and Thomas W. Ragsdale. Joseph W. Grainger was kept in a cave for five months, managed to escape, was captured a week later and was summarily executed. Two pilots for Air America, John L. Oyer and Justin B. Mahoney, are listed as having been contracted by USAID while transporting a passenger whose name is still redacted by the CIA. However, Jack J. Wells, a public safety advisor, was also noted as having been on board the aircraft being piloted by Oyer and Mahoney when it was shot down. Air America was often used to transport building materials, food, medical aid and equipment, and many other supplies needed for development operations in Southeast Asia. Many pilots and aircraft owned by Air America were permanently assigned to USAID. Air America was also used for refugee resettlements, especially the evacuation of Hmong people from dangerous areas.

Not all USAID personnel killed were Americans. Rodrigo Santa Anna, for example, was a Filipino tasked with teaching English as a second language in a rural village in South Vietnam, where he was teaching a class of approximately 35. Members of the Viet Cong launched a Blitzkrieg-style attack on the village, and Santa Anna was captured. He is reported as having shouted "I'm not an American!" before being shot in the head.Pacific Stars And Stripes, Newspaper Archives, May 17, 1965 Page 29

In contrast, only one USAID person, Ragei Said Abdelfattah, is currently listed as having been killed in Afghanistan. Similarly, only one USAID employee, Stephen Scott Everhart, is currently listed as having been killed in Iraq.

Another fallen USAID employee, Nancy Ferebee Lewis, died after exposure to a toxic pesticide that was not approved for use in a domestic environment was sprayed in her embassy-owned apartment, launching an entire movement within the federal government to more closely monitor the dangers of pesticides used in domestic environments.

The company Louis Berger Group, contracting for USAID in Afghanistan, lost over 200 personnel in Afghanistan prior to the year 2010.

List +USAID fallen officersImageNameJob titlePlace of deathCause of deathDate of deathRef.1950Walter Stanley EltringhamCoal Mining Engineer assigned to the Coal Mining Section of the Economic Cooperation Administration, tasked with increasing coal production on the Korean PeninsulaBa Chang Ri, North KoreaDied of overexposure in a concentration camp after a week of forced march by his captors. When he realized that he might be dying, he began donating his food to others and staying longer on fire watch duty so that others could sleep. He became so weak that others had to carry him, until he died to pneumonia.November 17, 19501953Ralph Brownlee SwainEntomologist assigned to the Point IV Program in NicaraguaSouth of Mexico City, MexicoShot and killed by highwaymen after refusing to pay. His wife and children were in the vehicle and were also killed.October 2, 19531955Everette Dixie ReeseDirector, USAID photo serviceBinh Xuyen, VietnamPlane shot down while taking photographsApril 29, 1955Anita Huovar CarrollTop-Level AID diplomatSistan and Baluchestan, IranThey were on the way to inspect a refugee camp on the road to Chahbahar, when they were ambushed by an 18-man posse, the "Dadshah gang," run by a notorious gangster and revolutionary fighter named Dadshah who belonged to the Sistan and Baluchestan insurgency. The party exhausted all of the ammunition in their own weapons before they were killed. Their bodies were found dead in the desert near the road. The Iranian government suspected that the gang wanted to sell Anita into slavery. Dadshah's younger brother, Ahmed Shah, admitted the group had committed the killings.March 24, 1957Greeley Daily Tribune, April 1, 1957 Page 14Kevin Mario CarrollForeign Service Officer, Director of the Point IV Program in IranBrewster Anderson WilsonDevelopment Specialist for the Near East Foundation and AID OfficerMohsen ShamsIranian Deputy Assistant to Brewster WilsonHerand KhachikianIranian driver and deputy assistant AID officer1960Dolph Brabham OwensPublic Safety Advisor for the MSUG, assigned to train South Vietnamese police forcesSaigon, South VietnamAmbushed by Viet Cong machine-gunnerNovember 5, 19601962Clyde Franklin SummersCivil engineer for E.V. Lane Corporation, overseeing airport construction projectSaigon, South VietnamAmbushed by Viet Cong. A man without a uniform held his hand up, motioning for Clyde's vehicle to stop. Clyde told his driver to keep going, and the soldiers opened fire.January 7, 1962Sydney B. JacquesProgram Inspector in the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for USAIDNepalKilled when a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi crashed near Tulachan Duri, Nepal.August 1, 1962Oscar Curtis HolderUnknownContractor assigned to USAID Public Safety DepartmentVietnam?1964John Alfred NuhnDeputy assistant director for finance for USAID in BangkokBangkok, ThailandDied due to injuries sustained in a car collision in Bangkok, ThailandOctober 23, 1964W.L. JacobsenVietnam?1965Gustav Crane HertzChief Public Administrator for USAID mission in VietnamVietnamDisappeared on the afternoon of February 2, 1962. His death was publicly announced as an execution by the Viet Cong in June 1967, however his actual cause of death was malaria.After February 2, 1965Joseph W. GraingerAgricultural specialistKidnapped en route to a sugar cane agricultural experimental station in August 1964. Kept chained up in a cave for five months. Escaped from a POW Camp in 1965. Found and executed a week later.March 17, 1965John B. ConeIrrigation and sewage specialist, working for Hydrotechnic Corporation, a contracting company installing sewage systems in VietnamSaigon, South VietnamAmbushed at roadblock by Viet Cong soldiers dressed in the uniform of the South Vietnamese militaryApril 19, 1965Rodrigo Santa AnnaTeacher of English as a Second Language, Philippine national originally from ManillaPhước Long province, South VietnamShot during hostile fire during a blitzkrieg-style Viet Cong attack on the village he was living inMay 11, 1965Pacific Stars And Stripes Newspaper Archives May 17, 1965 Page 29Jack Edwin RyanDirector of the USAID Department of Public Safety in Saigon, responsible for all US-Sponsored Police Officer training programs in VietnamSaigon, South VietnamMurdered in triple homicide by an Advisor under his command, at the center of many CIA conspiracy theories about General Westmoreland. While there has never been any direct evidence that Ryan was ever employed by the CIA, some historians suggest that he was a CIA officer under the official cover of the USAID.July 23, 1965Jerry Allen RoseSpecialist on Contract for USAIDVietnamPlane sabotaged, crashedSeptember 15, 1965Justin Gerard MahoneyFSO and Air America pilot transporting [classified] passengerBau Trai Air Strip, South VietnamCharter plane shot down by small arms fire while attempting to land C-45 flight #W9574ZSeptember 27, 1965John Lerdo "Jack" OyerJack J. WellsPublic Safety Advisor, assigned to training South Vietnamese police forcesPeter Morse HuntingAssigned to International Voluntary Services and USAIDVietnamAmbushed by Viet Cong. Body recovered in 1973.November 12, 19651966William D. Smith IIIFlight Control OfficerVietnamMid-air collision with helicopter after participating in airstrikeJuly 23, 1966Norman Lewis ClowersPublic Safety Advisor, assigned to train South Vietnamese police forcesNha Trang, South VietnamAmbushed at roadblock by Viet Cong while driving alone after delivering a jeep load of timber and concrete to a house in South VietnamJuly, 19661967Don Myron SjostromRefugee Operations Officer transferred from the Peace CorpsNa Khang, LaosShot and killed while escorting refugees to safetyJanuary 6, 1967Robert LaFolletteHigher Education Advisor, Saigon OfficeVietnamPlane crashed into mountain during storm, no survivorsMarch 21, 1967Frederick Dudley "Rick" CheydleurFSO assigned to International Voluntary Services as a village development worker responsible for rice and seed productionPhakkania, Savannakhet Province, LaosKilled when Pathet Lao soldiers machine-gunned him while he slept in his quarters. He was a lifelong Quaker who had joined IVS to avoid fighting in Vietnam.March 25, 1967Pacific Stars And Stripes Newspaper Archives March 13, 1970 Page 4Robert Kenneth FranzblauForeign Service OfficerVietnamShot while evacuating refugeesJune 7, 1967James Alexander WallworkAccountant at the US Embassy in CairoAlexandria, EgyptContracted peritonitis after being evacuated with his family from the Embassy in Cairo, died in the hospital in AlexandriaJune 13, 1967Lubbock Avalanche Journal Newspaper Archives June 14, 1967 Page 47Francis J. SavageProvincial RepresentativeHue City, VietnamSurvivor of the 1965 Saigon bombing, died two years later from complications related to wounds sustained in the explosionJuly 13, 1967Marilyn Lourdes AllanHospital nurse assigned to United States Public Health Service contracting with USAIDNha Trang, South VietnamMurdered by her boyfriend, U.S. Army Captain Larry Peters after a sexual attack, who committed suicide after the shooting.