Arlington Rites Honor Buckley

The former CIA station chief in Beirut was honored today during a memorial service at his symbolic tombstone in Arlington National Cemetery, nearly three years after he died as a hostage in Lebanon.

CIA Director William H. Webster eulogized William F. Buckley as a man who “did things that none of the rest would have done. . . . He lived by example.” Buckley, the 51st CIA agent to die in the line of duty, had the “ability to handle tough situations,” Webster said. The terrorists who seized Buckley reportedly tortured him before killing him. The body of Buckley, 58 when he died on June 3, 1985, after 15 months in captivity, was never recovered.