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William Buckley  

Lieutenant Colonel William F. Buckley was born in Medford, Massachusetts on May 30, 1928. Colonel Buckley graduated from high school in 1947 and joined the United States Army.

William Francis Buckley (May 30, 1928–June 3, 1985) was a U.S. Army officer and intelligence agency operative. He was kidnapped by the Islamist group Islamic Holy War on March 16, 1984 while serving as CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, and was subject to torture and interrogation at the hands of his captors for 444 days; the man overseeing his torture was Imad Mugniyah, a former leader of Hezbollah. Buckley was eventually smuggled to Teheran via Damascus aboard an Iranian plane. He died in captivity in Beirut after illness and torture. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Director of the CIA, William H. Webster, eulogized Buckley saying, "Bill's success in collecting information in situations of incredible danger was exceptional, even remarkable."

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