AFSA Memorial Plaque Ceremony

I got the following email today from AFSA:

"The AFSA Memorial Plaque Ceremony, which honors Foreign Service personnel who have lost their lives while serving their country in the line of duty or under other inspirational circumstances, will be held on Foreign Affairs Day, Friday, May 7 at 10:35 a.m., in the C St. lobby of the State Department in front of the west plaque. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to preside over the ceremony. AFSA President Susan R. Johnson will open the ceremony with a brief welcome and Secretary Clinton will present a message from President Barack Obama and pay her respects to the families of the three employees whose names we will be adding to the plaque, bringing the total to 234. Those being honored this year are:

VICTORIA J. DELONG
Victoria J. Delong, 57, a 27-year veteran of the Foreign Service who served as the Cultural Affairs Officer at Embassy Port-au-Prince, was killed on Jan. 12 when her home collapsed during the earthquake. Posted in Haiti since February 2009, she had fallen in love with the country’s people and culture and called this tour the highlight of her diplomatic career. In addition to Haiti, she served in El Salvador, Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea, Germany, Australia, Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mauritius.

DALE J. GREDLER
Dale J. Gredler, 43, a Foreign Service Officer at the United States Agency for International Development passed away January 17, 2010, after suffering from cardiac arrest en route from his post in Kazakhstan to receive medical treatment in the United States. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of the Philippines in the 1990s and then worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency before transferring to USAID in 2001. Dale and his family served at USAID posts in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he was instrumental in reconstruction efforts following the devastating tsunami, as well as at the USAID Central Asian Republics Mission in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

TERRENCE L. BARNICH
Terrence L. Barnich, 56, was serving on a limited non-career Civil Service appointment as Deputy Director of the Iraq Transition Assistance Office in Baghdad, Iraq when he was killed by an improvised explosive device on Memorial Day, May 25, 2009. Originally scheduled to work in Iraq for 11 months following his placement there in 2007, he decided to stay longer and continue to help the Iraqi nation in its reconstruction efforts. Throughout the course of his career, Terry served as General Counsel to the Governor of Illinois, Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission and he co-founded a nationally recognized and highly respected consulting firm, New Paradigm Resources Group, Inc. Terry was recognized as an authority on utility and political issues. Sadly, an IED claimed his life.

The solemn ceremony offers us an opportunity to remember and honor our fallen colleagues who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and to remind us of the extremely dangerous and difficult conditions that our Foreign Service personnel face today in many parts of the world. Our deepest sympathies and heartfelt gratitude go out to all their loved ones. We ask all members of the Foreign Service community to join us in a moment of silence at 10:55 am EST. "

From AFSA: Remembering the FSO Community Victims of the Haiti Earthquake

Remembering the FSO Community Victims of the Haiti Earthquake

AFSA wishes to express its deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of those in the Foreign Service community who perished in the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti. One Foreign Service Officer and at least six Foreign Service Nationals are among the fallen, with 28 others unaccounted for:

Victoria DeLong: A 27-year veteran of the Foreign Service and an AFSA member, Victoria served as the Cultural Affairs Officer in Port-au-Prince. She had fallen in love with the people and culture of Haiti and called this tour the highlight of her career. Donations in her memory of Victoria Delong can be made to the Little Flower/Rosa Mina Orphanage, where Vickie volunteered. Online donations can be made through the Partners in Progress website (http://www.piphaiti.org/). There, click on "make a donation" to get the donations page. Where it asks "How should we use your donation", there is a drop down menu, and Little Flower/Rosa Mina is third on the list of options. On behalf of AFSA and its members, AFSA President Susan Johnson will present Victoria’s family with a United States flag at the funeral this weekend.

We also mourn the terrible loss of so many of our FSN colleagues. The Foreign Service National (FSN) Emergency Relief Fund enables the Department of State to respond to crises affecting locally employed staff overseas. To donate to the fund, send a check to the Department’s Gift Fund Coordinator, Donna Bordley, RM/CFO, Rm. 7427, 2201 C Street NW, Washington DC 20520. Make checks payable to the U.S. Department of State, designation for the “FSN Emergency Relief Fund.” State and USAID employees may also check their intranet for guidance on donation by cash or credit cards.

Our thoughts are also with State Department employee Andrew Wyllie, who tragically lost his wife Laurence and his two young sons, Evan and Baptiste, in the earthquake.

As a part of honoring their memory, AFSA has opened an online condolence and remembrance page at http://www.afsa.org/haiti.cfm. Please share your thoughts on those who gave their lives by e-mailing them to member@afsa.org. They will be posted each day. We encourage you to express your support for the dedication, courage and professionalism of your colleagues and fellow members of our Foreign Service family/community. The families of the fallen will then be provided with a bound book containing all the messages regarding their loved ones.

DeLong "Had the calling"

There was a nice piece in yesterday's Washington Post about Victoria DeLong, the FSO who was killed in Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti. I have shared it with you below:

Victoria DeLong was only known U.S. diplomat to die in quake

Victoria DeLong didn't have a favorite country. After serving as a diplomat in so many, from Costa Rica to Congo, choosing one would have been hard.

But friends say that few places in her nearly three decades at the State Department touched her the way Haiti did.

Posted there last year, she was struck not only by the poverty but by the resilience of the people, recalled Cesar B. Cabrera, who was the U.S. ambassador to Mauritius and kept in touch with DeLong after she moved from that island nation to Washington and then on to Haiti.

"She said they were very poor, but they were always smiling and they were very nice people," Cabrera, who is retired, said in a telephone interview from Puerto Rico.

DeLong, who was 57 and served as a cultural affairs officer in Port-au-Prince, died in Tuesday's earthquake. She was at her home in the capital city when the quake struck, and she is the only U.S. diplomat known to have perished in the catastrophe.

It was the end of a career that began by chance at a California college.

A fellow student was taking a break from the Foreign Service to go back to school, and she raved to DeLong about what a wonderful career the State Department offered.

"I was the one who convinced her to join," said Dorothy Ledger, who was that other student and who remained a close friend.

By Ledger's account, it was a career choice that DeLong never regretted.

"She loved it. She absolutely loved it," Ledger said in an interview from Kentucky. "She loved the travel. She loved her job. She just loved all of it."

Over the course of 27 years, DeLong counted Australia, Germany and the Philippines among her postings.

Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, was her last overseas assignment before Port-au-Prince. Like Haiti, Mauritius is a small nation on an island, but with none of the economic and political instability that have long plagued Haiti.

When Cabrera arrived as the ambassador in 2006, DeLong was already in Mauritius. As part of the small embassy staff, the two worked closely on issues such as terrorism and piracy, which are very much part of the mission, given the proximity to Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Less than a month after his arrival, she accompanied him on a trip to Djibouti to meet with U.S. military officials stationed there.

Cabrera soon learned that DeLong shared the passion that he and so many others brought to jobs in the Foreign Service.

"It's a vocation. It's a calling," he said. "She had the calling."

In Haiti, it wasn't just her smarts and determination that impressed Janet A. Sanderson, who was the U.S. ambassador to Haiti from 2006 to 2008. "She had a wonderful sense of humor, which you have to have in Haiti, even under the best of times," Sanderson said.

For DeLong's family, the spirit of their lost loved one is what they want people to remember.

"Victoria cared deeply for her family and friends," her family said late Friday in a written statement. "She was a wonderful sister, friend, and humanitarian; she was cheerful and full of life in all her endeavors and accomplishments."

Statement from the Secretary on Victoria DeLong

STATEMENT OF SECRETARY CLINTON

The Passing of Victoria DeLong

This morning I spoke with the family of Victoria DeLong, the Cultural Affairs Officer at our Embassy in Port-Au-Prince who lost her life in the earthquake. I expressed my sincerest condolences on behalf of the men and women of the State Department and the American people. So many have lost their lives in this tragedy. The United Nations has suffered grevious losses. And the Hatian people have endured unimaginable heartbreak. For the State Department, we have lost one of our own. Victoria was a veteran Foreign Service Officer who worked tirelessly to build bridges of understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of Haiti. She served her country with distinction and honor, and she will be sorely missed. Victoria's friends and colleagues at the Embassy are working day and night to support vital relief and recovery efforts, and our thoughts, our prayers, and our deepest thanks are with them as well. Along with the military personnel, the search and rescue teams, and all the aid and relief workers now deploying, they represent the unwavering commitment of the United States to stand with Haiti in its hour of need and in the hard days and years to come. My heart is with the DeLong family today, and with all those in Haiti and around the world who have lost loved ones and friends in this disaster.

Sad News for the Foreign Service

During the Daily Press Briefing tonight, the State Department announced that Victoria J. DeLong, the Cultural Affairs Officer in Port Au Prince, was killed when her house collapsed during Tuesday's earthquake.

DeLong joined the Foreign Service in 1983 and had served in Haiti since February 2009. She was 57.

The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the Foreign Service go out to her family. We all know the risks we take when we sign up to serve our country, and that any one of us could have been in her place.

From our department notice:

We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Victoria J. DeLong, our Cultural Affairs Officer in Port-Au-Prince. We join our embassy in Haiti to express our heartfelt condolences to her family, and we are providing all necessary support to the family during this difficult time.

Ms. DeLong joined the Foreign Service in 1983 and served as Cultural Affairs Officer in Haiti since February 2009. In one of the most challenging environments in the world, she dedicated herself to educational and cultural exchange between the people of Haiti and the people of the United States. Her creativity, hard work, communication skills, and courage in this task advanced the partnership between our countries and the cause of peace and prosperity in our global neighborhood. She will be sorely missed by her colleagues and friends.

A station in her native California covered her death here.