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Barbara Robbins: A slain CIA secretary’s life and death A private ceremony last year marked the first time the CIA publicly acknowledged that 21-year-old Barbara A. Robbins was the first woman at the agency killed in the line of duty. She was the victim of a 1965 car bombing in Vietnam.
A photograph of Barbara and Warren Robbins when they were children. Barbara was 3 1/2 years older than her brother, Warren. Barbara was killed in the bombing of the U.S Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, on March 30, 1965. Barbara, 21, was working as a secretary at the embassy when a terrorist detonated a bomb next to it. Warren has the letters that Barbara wrote to her family in 1964 and 1965, as well as scrapbooks that their parents made after Barbara’s death.
Family photo
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A photograph of Barbara and Warren Robbins when they were children, with their parents, Buford and Ruth Robbins.
Family photo
A photograph of Barbara and Warren Robbins when they were children.
Family photo
Barbara and Warren Robbins when they were children.
Family photo
A photograph of Bill McDonald and Barbara Robbins taken on a trip to Nha Trang, Vietnam, late in 1964 that Barbara's brother Warren keeps in a scrapbook at his home in Aurora, Colo.
Family photo
Letters that Barbara Robbins wrote to her family while she was stationed in Saigon in 1964 and 1965 working as a secretary at the U.S Embassy. In May 2011, the CIA added Robbins's name in the "Book of Honor" that sits in a steel frame beneath the Memorial Wall of stars, the agency's memorial for fallen employees.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
One of the letters Barbara Robbins wrote to her family while she was stationed in Saigon in 1964 and 1965.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A scrapbook with a collection of condolence letters and clippings from the U.S. Embassy bombing in Saigon that killed Barbara Robbins. Her brother Warren Robbins in Aurora, Colo., has the letters she wrote to her family in 1964 and 1965 and scrapbooks with condolences from across the country and news clippings about the bombing.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A scrapbook with a collection of condolence letters and news clippings about the U.S. Embassy bombing in Saigon that killed Barbara Robbins.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
The first page of a letter dated March 30, 1965, from Geraldine Mooney written to Barbara A. Robbins's parents after Barbara was killed in the bombing of the U.S Embassy in Vietnam. Mooney worked with Robbins at the embassy.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A telegram from President Lyndon B. Johnson sent to Mr. and Mrs. Buford Robbins when their daughter, Barbara, was killed.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A medal presented by the CIA for exceptional service to Barbara Robbins after her death.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A U.S. Army photograph from the memorial service held at Tan Son Nhut chapel near Saigon, Vietnam, in honor of Barbara Robbins and U.S. Navy Storekeeper 2nd Class Manolito W. Castillo. Robbins and Castillo were killed in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam on March 30, 1965.
Sp/5 Merle F. Boward, PFC Harold E. Smith II
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39th SIG BN field photo team, U.S. Army
A U.S. Army photograph from the memorial service held at Tan Son Nhut chapel near Saigon, Vietnam, in honor of Barbara Robbins and U.S. Navy Storekeeper 2nd Class Manolito W. Castillo.
Sp/5 Merle F. Boward, PFC Harold E. Smith II/39th SIG BN field photo team, U.S. Army
A U.S. Army photograph from the memorial service held at Tan Son Nhut chapel near Saigon in honor of Barbara Robbins and U.S. Navy Storekeeper 2nd Class Manolito W. Castillo, who were killed in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in 1965.
Sp/5 Merle F. Boward, PFC Harold E. Smith II/39th SIG BN field photo team, U.S. Army
A U.S. Army photograph from the memorial service held at Tan Son Nhut chapel near Saigon, Vietnam, in honor of Barbara Robbins and U.S. Navy Storekeeper 2nd Class Manolito W. Castillo.
Sp/5 Merle F. Boward, PFC Harold E. Smith II/39th SIG BN field photo team, U.S. Army
A U.S. Army photograph from the memorial service held at Tan Son Nhut chapel near Saigon.
Sp/5 Merle F. Boward, PFC Harold E. Smith II/39th SIG BN field photo team, U.S. Army
A letter from Secretary of State Dean Rusk sent to Mr. and Mrs. Buford Robbins after the June 1965 annual awards ceremony in Washington honoring Barbara Robbins, among others.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A medal presented by the CIA for exceptional service to Barbara Robbins after her death.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A framed poster from the annual memorial ceremony for employees of the CIA was presented in honor of Barbara Robbins in June 1995. The poster hangs on her brother's wall in Aurora, Colo.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
U.S. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor greet Mr. and Mrs. Buford M. Robbins and Warren Robbins at the annual awards ceremony held by the State Department in Washington in June 1965. Barbara Robbins, along with others, was honored for her service and received the newly designated honor “The Secretary's Award.”
State Department
Barbara Robbins, along with others, was honored for her service at the annual awards ceremony held by the State Department in Washington in June 1965.
State Department
A plaque, “The Secretary's Award,” was presented to Barbara Robbins posthumously in 1965 for her service to the U.S. State Department.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
Warren Robbins sits at the dining room table in his condominium in Aurora, Colo., with letters written by his sister Barbara Robbins while she was stationed in Vietnam. Warren said he felt like he was getting to know Barbara over again as he read her letters again.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
Scrapbooks with a collection of condolence letters and news clippings about Barbara Robbins, who was killed in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Saigon on March 30, 1965, sit on a table in her brother’s home in Aurora, Colo. Warren Robbins has the letters Barbara wrote to her family in 1964 and 1965, as well as the scrapbooks that their parents made after Barbara's death. Included is a picture of Barbara taken circa 1964.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
A photo of the CIA's "Book of Honor" with the names of those who died in CIA service. The book is at the Memorial Wall at CIA headquarters in Langley. Barbara Annette Robbins, who died in 1965 in Vietnam, was recently added to the book.
CIA
Warren Robbins keeps a duplicate of the star that was placed in the CIA Memorial Wall at the agency’s headquarters in Langley for his sister Barbara A. Robbins. The wall of stars honors CIA employees who died in the line of service.
Joanna B. Pinneo
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For The Washington Post
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