Composure

Showing 31–40 of 68 results

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    Wuhan Evacuation Team Patch

    As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, the State Department was on the frontline of working to bring over 100,000 Americans home as cities and countries across the globe locked down and normal travel options disappeared. This patch was created by one of the evacuation teams out of a shared sense of…

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    U.S. Consular Flag

    In April 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army. American diplomats were on the frontlines, organizing what would be the most ambitious helicopter evacuation in history. In the city of Can Tho, Consul General Francis Terry McNamara was instructed to evacuate his 12 or so American…

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    Embassy Nairobi Concrete Fragment

    On August 7, 1998, the U.S. embassies in both Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were attacked in coordinated truck bombings. Suicide bombers parked trucks loaded with explosives outside each embassy and almost simultaneously detonated them. In Nairobi, approximately 212 people were killed and an estimated 4,000 wounded, while in Dar es…

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    Tear Gas Canister

    U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay Clyde Taylor served during the rule of an anti-democratic and hostile government in the late 1980s. While attending a pro-democracy reception at a private residence on February 10, 1987, the Paraguayan police lobbed this tear gas canister into the garden in his vicinity. Ambassador Taylor and others suffered…

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    “Terrorism: Avoidance & Survival” Booklet

    “Terrorism: Avoidance and Survival” booklet, published in 1986 by the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State. Aimed at Foreign Service Officers and others working and living abroad, the booklet provides detailed guidance on avoiding and surviving terrorism.

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    “Hostage Cross” Necklace

    Kathryn Koob was a Foreign Service Officer who was serving in Tehran when the American embassy was seized by Iranian militants on Nov. 4, 1979. She became one of two women who were held hostage during the entire ordeal. Koob is a person of deep faith, which sustained her while held captive.…

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    Kathryn Koob's Knit Hat

    Kathryn Koob was a Foreign Service Officer who was serving in Tehran when the American embassy was seized by Iranian militants on Nov. 4, 1979. She became one of two women who were held hostage during the entire ordeal. After their release on January 20, 1981, following 444 days held as hostages,…

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    Iran Hostage Blindfold

    This piece of cloth was fashioned into a blindfold and used on U.S. diplomat Robert Blucker, who was serving at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 as an Economic Officer. Blucker was one of 52 who were ultimately held hostage for 444 days, in what became known as the Iran Hostage…

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    Day Planner from Bombed Embassy

    This day planner belonged to Foreign Service Officer Ellen Richard, one of the survivors of the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. Richard lost her eyesight due to injuries from the bombing, and her personal story of courage and resilience—like that of so many others—is inspiring. Her day planner…