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DIA Patriots Biographies

The Patriots' Memorial honors Defense Intelligence Agency employees who died in the service of their Country. For Agency employees and visitors to the DIAC, this memorial acts as a daily reminder of the brave individuals and the ultimate sacrifice they made. The memorial serves as a centerpiece in the lobby of the Defense Intelligence and Analysis Center (DIAC) at Bolling Air Force Base. The sacrifice of these women and men brings honor to their country, colleagues, families, and themselves. Their names will be forever listed with those of our Nation's Great Patriots.

A GRATEFUL NATION RECOGNIZES THOSE WHO
HAVE MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE WHILE
PROTECTING OUR FREEDOM.

Major Robert P. Perry, USA,
Assistant Army Attache, Jordan
01 February 1936 - 10 June 1970

On 10 June 1970, Major Robert P. Perry was shot and killed by Palestinians in Amman, Jordan. Perry was killed by automatic weapons fire at close range through the locked doors of his home as Palestinian guerrillas attempted to enter. His wife and children were present at the time. Perry's house was situated in the center of heavy fighting in Amman between the Palestinians and the Jordanian Army. After the incident a spokesman for Al Fatah, a Palestinian terrorist organization, took responsibility for the killing.
Major Perry was born in Chicago, Illinois. A 1958 graduate of Yale, he entered the Army in June of that year and later obtained a master's degree in Arabic studies from the American University in Beirut. He was a fluent Arabic speaker. He had been at his post in Amman since March 1967. Before that, he served as assistant army attaché with the U.S. Embassy in Beirut from September 1963 to July 1966. He was married and had two sons and a daughter.

Celeste M. Brown
Defense Attache Office, Saigon
12 September 1926 - 04 April 1975

Celeste Brown died on 4 April 1975 in the crash of a U.S. Air Force cargo plane during the evacuation of Saigon. She was on a C-5A GALAXY carrying the first flight of OPERATION BABYLIFT, a program approved by President Gerald Ford to bring Vietnamese orphans to the U.S. The plane carried 250 children, 29 crew members, including Air Force medical personnel, and 50 dependents and employees from the U.S. Mission who assisted the medics and nurses in tending the children. Soon after takeoff the cargo door blew off the plane, damaging the hydraulic lines in the tail and destroying most of the controls. Despite the efforts of the pilots, the C-5A crashed two miles short of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in a muddy rice paddy. The impact crushed the cargo deck, killing about 100 of the children and many of the civilian employees, including Brown and four other members of the U.S. Defense Attaché Office (USDAO) staff.
Ms. Brown worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency seven years prior to her assignment to the USDAO in Saigon as a clerical specialist.

Vivienne A. Clark
Defense Attache Office, Saigon
26 August 1918 - 04 April 1975

Vivienne A. Clark died on 4 April 1975 in the crash of a U.S. Air Force cargo plane during the evacuation of Saigon. She was on a C-5A GALAXY carrying the first flight of OPERATION BABYLIFT, a program approved by President Gerald Ford to bring Vietnamese orphans to the U.S. The plane carried 250 children, 29 crew members, including Air Force medical personnel, and 50 dependents and employees from the U.S. Mission who assisted the medics and nurses in tending the children. Soon after takeoff the cargo door blew off the plane, damaging the hydraulic lines in the tail and destroying most of the controls. Despite the efforts of the pilots, the C-5A crashed two miles short of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in a muddy rice paddy. The impact crushed the cargo deck, killing about 100 of the children and many of the civilian employees, including Clark and four other members of the U.S. Defense Attaché Office (USDAO) staff.
Ms. Clark worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency seven years prior to her assignment to the USDAO in Saigon as a clerical specialist.

Dorothy M. Curtiss
Defense Attache Office, Saigon
24 February 1930 - 04 April 1975

Dorothy M. Curtiss died on 4 April 1975 in the crash of a U.S. Air Force cargo plane during the evacuation of Saigon. She was on a C-5A GALAXY carrying the first flight of OPERATION BABYLIFT, a program approved by President Gerald Ford to bring Vietnamese orphans to the U.S. The plane carried 250 children, 29 crew members, including Air Force medical personnel, and 50 dependents and employees from the U.S. Mission who assisted the medics and nurses in tending the children. Soon after takeoff the cargo door blew off the plane, damaging the hydraulic lines in the tail and destroying most of the controls. Despite the efforts of the pilots, the C-5A crashed two miles short of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in a muddy rice paddy. The impact crushed the cargo deck, killing about 100 of the children and many of the civilian employees, including Curtiss and four other members of the U.S. Defense Attaché Office (USDAO) staff.
Ms. Curtiss worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency seven years prior to her assignment to the USDAO in Saigon as a clerical specialist.

Joan K. Prey
Defense Attache Office, Saigon
26 January 1936 - 04 April 1975

Joan K. Prey died on 4 April 1975 in the crash of a U.S. Air Force cargo plane during the evacuation of Saigon. She was on a C-5A GALAXY carrying the first flight of OPERATION BABYLIFT, a program approved by President Gerald Ford to bring Vietnamese orphans to the U.S. The plane carried 250 children, 29 crew members, including Air Force medical personnel, and 50 dependents and employees from the U.S. Mission who assisted the medics and nurses in tending the children. Soon after takeoff the cargo door blew off the plane, damaging the hydraulic lines in the tail and destroying most of the controls. Despite the efforts of the pilots, the C-5A crashed two miles short of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in a muddy rice paddy. The impact crushed the cargo deck, killing about 100 of the children and many of the civilian employees, including Prey and four other members of the U.S. Defense Attaché Office (USDAO) staff.
Ms. Prey worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency seven years prior to her assignment to the USDAO in Saigon as a clerical specialist.

Doris J. Watkins
Defense Attache Office, Saigon
04 August 1936 - 04 April 1975

Doris J. Watkins died on 4 April 1975 in the crash of a U.S. Air Force cargo plane during the evacuation of Saigon. She was on a C-5A GALAXY carrying the first flight of OPERATION BABYLIFT, a program approved by President Gerald Ford to bring Vietnamese orphans to the U.S. The plane carried 250 children, 29 crew members, including Air Force medical personnel, and 50 dependents and employees from the U.S. Mission who assisted the medics and nurses in tending the children. Soon after takeoff the cargo door blew off the plane, damaging the hydraulic lines in the tail and destroying most of the controls. Despite the efforts of the pilots, the C-5A crashed two miles short of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in a muddy rice paddy. The impact crushed the cargo deck, killing about 100 of the children and many of the civilian employees, including Watkins and four other members of the U.S. Defense Attaché Office (USDAO) staff.
Ms. Watkins worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency seven years prior to her assignment to the USDAO in Saigon as a clerical specialist.

Colonel Charles R. Ray, USA
Assistant Army Attache, Paris
14 September 1938 - 18 January 1982

A Lebanese terrorist shot and killed Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Ray outside his Paris apartment on 18 January 1982. A terrorist group called the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction claimed responsibility for the murder. Ray was killed at about 9 AM as he was walking to his car, which was parked about 100 yards from his apartment. An lone armed man shot Ray at close range in the head with a pistol.
Lieutenant Colonel Ray was born in New York City. He was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1960. Ray had been stationed in Paris as the Assistant Army Attaché for 18 months. He was a distinguished Military Intelligence officer, a decorated Vietnam veteran, and on his first assignment as a military attaché. He was married and had two children.
President Ronald Reagan promoted Ray to Colonel posthumously on 3 June 1982. The President approved the promotion and met with Ray's wife during a visit to Paris in June 1982.

Chief Warrant Officer Robert W. Prescott, USA
Defense Attache Office, Guatemala
29 April 1949 - 21 January 1984

Chief Warrant Officer Robert W. Prescott died in the crash of a Guatemalan Air Force plane on 21 January 1984. Prescott and ten Guatemalans were aboard the Israeli-built Avava 856 that crashed north of Guatemala City twenty minutes after takeoff. The cargo plane was carrying people and supplies to the northern province of Peten on a routine flight and had developed mechanical problems. There were no survivors.
Chief Warrant Officer Prescott was born in Sioux City, Iowa. He was a career U.S. Army intelligence specialist and had been assigned to Guatemala since March 1981. Prescott was married and had two children.

Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth D. Welch, USA
Defense Attache Office, Beirut
06 July 1954 - 20 September 1984

Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth D. Welch was killed in the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, Lebanon on 20 September 1984. A suicide car bomber maneuvered through concrete barricades and gunfire to detonate the vehicle in front of the building, killing at least 23 people. Lebanese and British guards opened fire on the vehicle as it drove by. A group known as the Hizballah (Islamic Jihad) claimed responsibility after the attack. This same group claimed responsibility for the October 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in which 241 Americans were killed.
Chief Warrant Officer Welch was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was a career U.S. Army intelligence specialist and had been assigned to the U.S. Defense Attache Office in Beirut as the Operations Coordinator since May 1982. Welch enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1970. He was a Vietnam veteran and had previously served in Defense Attaché Offices in Iran and China. He was married and had two sons.

Petty Officer First Class Michael R. Wagner, USN
Defense Attache Office, Beirut
23 May 1951 - 20 September 1984

Petty Officer First Class Michael R. Wagner was killed in the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, Lebanon on 20 September 1984. A suicide car bomber maneuvered through concrete barricades and gunfire to detonate the vehicle in front of the building, killing at least 23 people. Lebanese and British guards opened fire on the vehicle as it drove by. A group known as the Hizballah (Islamic Jihad) claimed responsibility after the attack. This same group claimed responsibility for the October 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in which 241 Americans were killed.
Petty Officer First Class Wagner was born in Columbia, North Carolina. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1977, and was stationed at the Dallas Naval Air Station before volunteering for duty in Beirut. He was a career intelligence specialist before reporting for duty at the U.S. Defense Attaché Office in Beirut as the Navy Intelligence Assistant in November 1983.

Captain William E. Nordeen, USN
Defense and Naval Attache, Greece
09 October 1936 - 28 June 1988

On 28 June 1988, moments after Captain William E. Nordeen left his home for work, a car bomb was detonated by remote control as his armor-plated car drove by. Nearly 50 pounds of TNT and plastic explosive were hidden in the trunk of a stolen car and bags of cement were stacked on one side of the car to direct the explosion towards Nordeen. The blast hurled his car across the tree-lined street, ramming it into a steel fence and killing him instantly. The next day, the terrorist group 17 November claimed responsibility for the attack.
Captain Nordeen was born in Amery, Wisconsin. He earned a bachelor of science from Wisconsin State College in River Falls and later received a master of arts in international relations from Salve Regina College in Newport, Rhode Island. A former Navy helicopter pilot, he previously served in the Pacific, including a tour aboard the aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA and in Vietnam. He had served as an attaché in Athens since 1985 and was due to retire in August 1988 after 30 years in the Navy. He was married and had one daughter.

Judith Goldenberg
Defense Attache Office, Cairo
28 March 1940 - 15 July 1996

Judith I. Goldenberg was killed in Cairo, Egypt on 15 July 1996. She was stabbed to death in a random act of violence in the lobby of her hotel. Goldenberg was on official temporary duty with the the U.S. Defense Attaché Office (USDAO) at the time. The attacker was arrested on the scene.
Ms. Goldenberg was born in Chicago, Illinois. She began her career with DIA as a Bilingual Research Technician at the USDAO in Paris, France. Most recently, she had worked at DIA as a Middle East biographical analyst. Goldenberg was also a member of the Naval Reserve.
A DIA award was later established in Ms. Goldenberg's honor. The Judith I. Goldenberg Award for Excellence is awarded annually to recognize performance excellence in biographic reporting.

Staff Sergeant Kenneth R. Hobson II, USA
Defense Attache Defense Attache Office, Nairobi
01 May 1971 - 07 August 1998

Staff Sergeant Kenneth R. Hobson II was killed in the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya on 7 August 1998. Terrorists detonated a truck bomb behind the embassy building, killing more than 250 people, 12 of whom were Americans. Embassy guards turned away the vehicle when it approached the front of the embassy, but it managed to gain access to an adjacent parking area behind the building where it detonated. Islamic fundamentalists under the leadership of Osama bin Laden are suspected in this terrorist attack.
Staff Sergeant Hobson was born in Placerville, California and grew up western Missouri. He was a career U.S. Army intelligence specialist and had been assigned to the U.S. Defense Attaché Office (USDAO) in Kenya since December 1997. This was his first USDAO assignment. Hobson joined the Army in 1989 and served tours in the United States, Germany, and the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm. He was a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Arabic. He was married and had one daughter. His second daughter was born eight months after he was killed. He never had a chance to know her.

Master Sergeant William W Bultmeier, USA, Ret.
Defense Attache Office, Niamey
11 February 1949 - 23 December 2000

William W. Bultmeier was killed during a carjacking in Niamey, Niger on 23 December 2000. Bultmeier, a retired U.S. Army master sergeant, was leaving a restaurant with embassy staff members when the attack took place. A U.S. Marine staff sergeant was also wounded in the incident. Mr. Bultmeier had been in Niger since July 2000 serving as the Defense Attaché System (DAS) Operations Coordinator establishing a new Defense Attaché Office in Niger. Officials stated that the attack was not politically motivated and appeared to be a random act of violence aimed at the theft of Bultmeier’s four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Sergeant Bultmeier was born in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He entered the U.S. Army in May 1967 and served as an attack helicopter door gunner in Vietnam. After a break in service to attend St. Francis College in Indiana, he rejoined the U.S. Army in July 1971 and served in a variety of assignments in trouble spots around the world. During the 1980s, Sergeant Bultmeier served as an operations coordinator in U.S. Defense Attaché Offices (USDAOs) in Brazil, Finland, and Mozambique. After retirement in 1990, he served as a civilian with the Department of State at American embassies in Greece, Hungary, and Mauritania. He returned to the DAS in May 1999 as a civilian contractor, and had served at the USDAO in Singapore prior to his untimely death in Niamey.

Mr. Robert J. Hymel
13 August 1946 - 11 September 2001

Mr. Robert Hymel was one of seven DIA employees killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Another seven employees were injured in the attack. Mr. Robert Hymel served as a Senior Management Officer in the Office of the Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller for Force Structure and Management. Mr. Hymel began his civilian career with DIA on March 7, 1994 after retiring from the Air Force with over 23 years of active duty service. Mr. Hymel was responsible for DIA joint manpower issues that focused on military Human Intelligence (HUMINT) management and organization. Mr. Hymel is survived by his wife, Pat Hymel and daughter, Natalie Connors.

Ms. Shelley A. Marshall
16 November 1963 - 11 September 2001

Ms. Shelley Marshall was one of seven DIA employees killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Another seven employees were injured in the attack. Ms. Shelley Marshall served as a Senior Management Officer in the Office of the Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller for Force Structure and Management. Ms. Marshall began her civilian career with DIA on June 6, 1987. Ms. Marshall was responsible for budget formulation, budget execution, and preparing agency budget plans. Ms. Marshall is survived by husband, Donn E. Marshall, and two children, Drake and Chandler.

Ms. Sandra N. Foster
10 June 1960 - 11 September 2001

Ms. Sandra Foster was one of seven DIA employees killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Another seven employees were injured in the attack. Ms. Sandra Foster served as a Senior Management Officer in the Office of the Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller for Force Structure and Management. Ms. Foster began her civilian career with DIA on Aug. 27, 1978. Ms. Foster was responsible for conducting analysis and evaluations of the manpower and functional implications of plans and programs, developing and executing complex resource management activities. Ms. Foster is survived by husband, Kenneth Foster.

Ms. Patricia A. Mickley
15 October 1959 - 11 September 2001

Ms. Patricia Mickley was one of seven DIA employees killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Another seven employees were injured in the attack. Ms. Patricia Mickley served as a Senior Financial Resources Manager in the Office of the Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller for Program and Budget. Ms. Foster began her civilian career with DIA on Aug. 2, 1998 after working as a Budget Analyst for the Department of the Air Force since 1980. Ms. Mickley was responsible for the development, presentation, and execution of detailed budget estimates with a primary focus on infrastructure financial management and program/budget interaction process. Ms. Mickley is survived by husband, Joseph R. Mickley, and daughter, Marie.

Mr. Charles E. Sabin
31 July 1947 - 11 September 2001

Mr. Charles Sabin was one of seven DIA employees killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Another seven employees were injured in the attack. Mr. Charles Sabin was a Senior Financial Resources Expert in DIA's Comptroller's Office. Mr. Sabin started his career with DIA in Aug. 1981 as an Accountant in the Financial Policy and Accounting Division, Comptroller. He was selected as a Defense Intelligence Senior Level (DISL) in August 1999. Prior to arriving at DIA he served several years at the Department of the Army; he served for 31 years in federal service. Mr. Sabin is survived by two sons, Charles E. Sabin, Jr. and Paul Sabin.

Ms. Rosa M. Chapa
6 April 1938 - 11 September 2001

Ms. Rosa Chapa was one of seven DIA employees killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Another seven employees were injured in the attack. Ms. Rosa Chapa served as a Senior Management Officer in the Office of the Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller for Force Structure and Management. Ms. Chapa began her civilian career with DIA on Nov. 23, 1997 and served with the Federal government for over 30 years. Ms. Chapa was responsible for ensuring that critical manpower information flowed smoothly from the Force Structure Evaluation System (FORCES) into the position management module of PeopleSoft. Ms. Chapa is survived by husband, Jose Chapa, and children, Roger, John, Elza Gracie, and Julie.

Mr. Karl W. Teepe
24 September 1943 - 11 September 2001

Mr. Karl Teepe was one of seven DIA employees killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Another seven employees were injured in the attack. Mr. Karl Teepe served as a Senior Financial Resources Manager in the Office of the Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller for Program and Budget. Mr. Karl Teepe began his civilian career with DIA on Sep. 3, 1991 after retiring from the Army with over 20 years of active duty service. Mr. Teepe was responsible for the development of the General Defense Intelligence Program (GDIP) build. Mr. Teepe is survived by wife, Donna, and children, Adam and Wendy.