- Info
Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Norman Schwartz & Robert Snoddy
This is the first in a series of articles about the
CIA employees who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Here we will look at the
lives of the men and women who have died while serving their country.
Currently, there are 87 stars carved into the marble
of the CIA Memorial Wall. The wall stands as a silent, simple memorial to those
employees “who gave
their lives in the service of their country.” The CIA has released the names of 54 employees; the names of the remaining 33 officers must remain secret, even in
death.
Norman Schwartz & Robert Snoddy
In
November 1952, two young pilots volunteered for a mission to extract an agent
from Manchuria in Communist China. They knew
the operation – a snatch pickup – would be risky, but they were willing to go
on the mission.
The plan
was detailed:
But
unbeknownst to the team, they were about to fly into a trap – a plot to down
the aircraft was in motion. The agent team on the ground had
been turned by the Communist Chinese.
When the
team was ready to run the extraction, Schwartz and Snoddy flew a dry run by the
pickup point. As the plane came in low for the pickup, flying at only 60 knots,
gunfire erupted. Schwartz and Snoddy directed the aircraft nose up in the wake
of the deadly crossfire. This action prevented an immediate crash. But, the
engines cut out and the aircraft glided to a controlled crash. Downey and Fecteau survived. (For more on the Downey and Fecteau saga, see “Extraordinary Fidelity: Two CIA
Prisoners in China, 1952-73.”)
Both Schwartz
and Snoddy died at the scene.
But Who Were These Men?
Norman Schwartz was raised in a working-class neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky.
He was the fifth of seven siblings. When Schwartz was a teenager, his No. 1 priority
was learning to fly. He joined the Marines in 1943, becoming a Marine Corps
fighter pilot in the Pacific theater during World War II. He was awarded with a
Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal with two gold stars.
In February
1948, Schwartz left the service to fly for Civil Air Transport (CAT) – a CIA
proprietary company. He piloted CAT aircraft for four years before the tragedy
in November 1952.
He was 29
years old when he died in the line of duty. He was survived by his parents and
siblings.
Robert Snoddy first took up flying in 1940 under the Civilian
Pilot Training program in his home state of Oregon. He decided to join the Navy in 1942,
while studying aeronautical engineering at Oregon State
University. His flying
background helped him gain admittance to the Naval Aviation Cadet program.
After time in Corpus Christi, Texas,
Snoddy went to Florida
for flight training.
He went
on to serve as a Navy pilot in the Pacific. He was awarded with an Air
Medal with four stars, as well as a Purple Heart and several battle stars. He
was credited with downing two Japanese planes. Snoddy was discharged in 1946
with the rank of Lieutenant.
Snoddy
signed on to fly for CAT in June 1948. He was 31 years old when he paid the
ultimate price. Three weeks after he was killed, his wife Charlotte gave birth
to their daughter, Roberta, the couple’s only child.
Remembering These Brave Men
The CIA
honored Schwartz and Snoddy with stars on the CIA Memorial Wall in 1998. Both
men are remembered for their unquestionable bravery. Their names are included
in the CIA Book of Honor.
In 2002
and again in 2004, the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), based in Hawaii, sent forensic and excavation teams to the 1952 crash
site near the town of Antu in China’s Jilin Province.
In June 2004, JPAC discovered human remains that were shipped back to the United States
in a flag-draped coffin.
On March
24, 2005, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) was able to
identify the remains found at the site as Robert Snoddy’s. His remains were
placed inside his mother’s plot in Eugene,
Oregon.
To date,
efforts by JPAC and AFDIL have not identified any remains associated with
Norman Schwartz.
Historical Document
Posted: Nov 29, 2007 02:08 PM
Last Updated: Jun 20, 2008 08:56 AM
Last Reviewed: Nov 29, 2007 02:08 PM