On August 4th, 1975, five members of the Japanese Red Army or JRA – a militant organization intent on overthrowing the Japanese government and starting a worldwide revolution – stormed the United States embassy on the 9th floor the AIA Insurance building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The tallest building in Malaysia at the time, it housed five foreign embassies, including those of the United States and Sweden. The JRA gunman held 53 people hostage, mostly Malaysians but also including U.S. consul Robert Stebbins and a Swedish diplomat, for four days. Robert Dillon, a Foreign Service officer in Kuala Lumpur at the time, was working on another floor of the building when it happened. As the crisis progressed, he oversaw negotiations and the security of the hostages during the entire ordeal.
He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy beginning in May 1990. Go here to read his account of the 1983 Embassy Beirut bombing. You can also read about the JRA's 1972 attack on Puerto Rican tourists in Israel.
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