On April 3rd, 1996, just before the Easter holiday, Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown was killed in a plane crash in Croatia. He was 54 years old. He was on a trip to Dubrovnik, flying from Zagreb to meet with President Franjo Tuđman on an official trade mission. Brown had offered to make the trip on behalf of President Bill Clinton as the President’s schedule was very tight and Brown was available. The crash occurred as the pilot attempted to land at Dubrovnik’s Cilipi Airport on visual flight rules in severe weather. The plane crashed into a mountainside; Ron Brown and 34 other people were killed instantly. Only Air Force Technical Sergeant Shelly Kelly was able to survive the impact; however, she died on her way to the hospital. In March 2011, the new United States Mission to the United Nations building in New York City was named in Brown’s honor (see photo below).
Peter W. Galbraith, who was appointed the first Ambassador to Croatia in 1993 by President Clinton, describes the events that led to the crash, how Galbraith ended up not going on that fateful flight, and the landing that never should have been attempted. He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy beginning in March 1999. You can read about how other people died in the line of duty, whose names are on the AFSA Memorial Plaques marking the main entrance to the State Department.
