REMARKS OF THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS ON PRESENTATION OF THE DIRECTOR'S MEDAL TO JOHN T. "JACK" DOWNEY AND RICHARD G. FECTEAU 25 JUNE 1998

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05336724
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2019
• Case Number: F-2016-02337
• Publication Date: June 25, 1998

Approved for Release: 2019/06/04 C05336724
Remarks of the Deputy Director of Operations
on presentation of the Director's Medal
to
John T. "Jack" Downey
and Richard G. Fecteau
25 June 1998
OPENING COMMENTS:
Welcome to you all. This is an extraordinary day. As I look out over so many
old friends, colleagues and mentors, it occurs to me that today the Agency has
managed to bring together here in one place fifty years of China experience in the
Directorate of Operations. This is an unprecedented assembly, and one, I believe, we
will find hard to match ever again in the future. Among the handful of OSS veterans
here today are two who served in China during the war. Stanley Bergman, who
devoted more than 50 years of his life to working on China and Betty McIntosh, author
of the recently published "Sisterhood of Spies." I would like to add that we are honored
by the presence of Ambassador Richard Helms, former Director of Central Intelligence.
Dick's support and counsel has been a steady compass for succeeding generations of
Agency leadership over the years.
All of you traveled here to mark a singular event and to celebrate two singular
people -- Dick Fecteau and Jack Downey. Of those among the living, few - if any - in
the Clandestine Service - have paid such a high price or have been called upon to
display such courage. But we should also pause today to remember two other officers -
the pilots on that 1952 flight into Manchuria whose lives ended abrupt!y in a hail of gun
fire during the crash landing.
Before today, I had never met Jack Downey or Dick Fecteau, but I came to know
their story well indeed. As you may imagine, I heard their names on the very first day I
came to work in China operations in 1967(7). I still recall Stanley Bergman introducing
me around to all the old China hands as 'Jack Downing.' You can imagine the double
takes and how often this introduction led to the story of Jack Downey and Dick Fecteau.
In 1952, Jack and Dick volunteered for a resupply and agent 'snatch' operation
into Manchuria -- a risky operation which failed, which cost them twenty years of their
lives and which brought untold grief to their families.
Approved for Release: 2019/06/04 C05336724