The World - News from March 4, 1988

Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, the U.S. Marine officer kidnaped in Lebanon two weeks ago, has been selected for promotion to the rank of colonel, the Marine Corps announced in Washington. Higgins, until last summer a military aide to former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, was selected for advancement by a promotion board along with 78 other lieutenant colonels. He is No. 55 on a list of 79 and will not actually receive the new rank for at least another year. The 43-year-old officer was on temporary duty with the United Nations, heading a group of observers in Lebanon attached to the U.N. Truce Supervisory Organization, when he was abducted.