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21-668: The Memorial Wall is a memorial at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia . The wall is located in the Original Headquarters Building lobby on the north wall. There are 140 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall, each one representing an employee who died in the line of service. Paramilitary Operations Officers (PMOO) of the Special Activities Center comprise

42-578: A pneumatic air hammer and a chisel to carve out the traced pattern. After he finishes carving the star, he cleans the dust and sprays the star black, which as the star ages, fades to gray. The Honor and Merit Awards Board (HMAB) recommends approval of candidates to be listed on the wall to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency . The CIA states that [i]nclusion on the Memorial Wall

63-593: A memorial gift (usually money) be given to a designated charity, or that a tree be planted in memory of the person. Those temporary or makeshift memorials are also called grassroots memorials. Sometimes, when a student has died, the memorials are placed in the form of a scholarship, to be awarded to high-achieving students in future years. Memorials to persons or events of major significance may be designated as national memorials . Paris%E2%80%93Le Bourget Airport Paris–Le Bourget Airport (French: Aéroport de Paris-Le Bourget ) ( IATA : LBG , ICAO : LFPB )

84-550: A new star to the wall if that person's star is not already present. Johnston learned the process of creating the stars from the original sculptor of the wall, Harold Vogel, who created the first 31 stars and the Memorial Wall inscription when the wall was created in July 1974. Although the wall was "first conceived as a small plaque to recognize those from the CIA who died in Southeast Asia ,

105-583: A statue commemorating Frenchwoman Raymonde de Laroche who was the first woman to earn a pilot's licence. There is also a monument honouring Lindbergh, as well as Nungesser and Coli , pilots of The White Bird . On 14 April 2016, the Groupe ADP rolled out the Connect 2020 corporate strategy and the commercial brand Paris Aéroport was applied to all Parisian airports, including Le Bourget airport. Le Bourget has been called "The Teterboro of Europe" because of

126-480: A transatlantic flight, but then mysteriously disappeared. Howard Hughes flew the second nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1939, landing at Le Bourget and thereafter continuing onward to Moscow . On 25 June 1940, Adolf Hitler began his first and only tour of Paris, with Albert Speer and an entourage, from Le Bourget Airport. Due to capacity constraints at Le Bourget, Air France transferred all of its operations to Orly in 1952. The Paris Air Show

147-567: A year in Afghanistan. CIA leadership was criticized by some who feel she did not meet the criteria for the wall. Jane Wallis Burrell was the first CIA officer to die in the Agency's service when an Air France DC-3 from Brussels crashed on approach to the Le Bourget Airport near Paris on January 6, 1948, killing all five crew members and 10 of the 11 passengers. She died only 110 days after

168-467: Is an airport located within portions of the communes of Le Bourget , Bonneuil-en-France , Dugny and Gonesse , 6  NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) north-northeast of Paris , France. Once Paris's principal airport, it is now used only for general aviation , including business jet operations. It also hosts air shows , most notably the Paris Air Show . The airport is operated by Groupe ADP under

189-408: Is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event . Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as homes or other sites, or works of art such as sculptures , statues , fountains or parks . Larger memorials may be known as monuments . The most common type of memorial

210-528: Is awarded posthumously to employees who lose their lives while serving their country in the field of intelligence. Death may occur in the foreign field or in the United States . Death must be of an inspirational or heroic character while in the performance of duty; or as the result of an act of terrorism while in the performance of duty; or as an act of premeditated violence targeted against an employee, motivated solely by that employee's Agency affiliation; or in

231-419: Is the gravestone or the memorial plaque . Also common are war memorials commemorating those who have died in wars. Memorials in the form of a cross are called intending crosses . Online memorials are often created on websites and social media to allow digital access as an alternative to physical memorials which may not be feasible or easily accessible. When somebody has died, the family may request that

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252-647: The 140 entries in the book in 2023, 106 are named, while 34 are not. The 34 not named are represented only by a gold star followed by a blank space. The identities of the unnamed stars remain secret, even in death, though many names from the Cold War era have been released or uncovered in recent years. When new names are added to the Book of Honor, stone carver Tim Johnston of the Carving and Restoration Team in Manassas, Virginia adds

273-504: The CIA was officially established the previous September. Burrell was never a candidate for a star on the CIA's Memorial Wall because the wall commemorates Agency employees who died in specific circumstances and deaths from commercial aircraft crashes have generally not qualified. On May 6, 1954, during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu , two CIA pilots, James B. McGovern, Jr. and Wallace Buford , were killed when their C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo plane

294-535: The brand Paris Aéroport . The airport started commercial operations in 1919 and was Paris's only airport until the construction of Orly Airport in 1932. It is famous as the landing site for Charles Lindbergh 's historic solo transatlantic crossing in 1927 in the Spirit of St. Louis , and had been the departure point two weeks earlier for the French biplane L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird) , which took off in an attempt at

315-402: The idea quickly grew to a memorial for Agency employees who died in the line of duty." The process used by Johnston to add a new star is as follows: Johnston creates a star by first tracing the new star on the wall using a template. Each star measures 2¼ inches tall by 2¼ inches wide and half an inch deep; all the stars are six inches apart from each other, as are all the rows. Johnston uses both

336-500: The majority of those memorialized. The wall bears the inscription "In honor of those members of the Central Intelligence Agency who gave their lives in the service of their country." The wall is flanked by the flag of the United States on the left and a flag bearing the CIA seal on the right. A black Moroccan goatskin -bound book, called the "Book of Honor", sits in a steel frame beneath the stars, its "slender case jutting out from

357-500: The performance of duty while serving in areas of hostilities or other exceptionally hazardous conditions where the death is a direct result of such hostilities or hazards. After approval by the director, the Office of Protocol arranges for a new star to be placed on the Wall. The first suicide to be added to the wall was for employee Ranya Abdelsayed , who died by suicide in 2013 after working for

378-494: The wall just below the field of stars", and is "framed in stainless steel and topped by an inch-thick plate of glass." Inside it shows the stars, arranged by year of death and, when possible, lists the names of employees who died in CIA service alongside them. In 1997, there were 70 stars, 29 of which had names. There were 79 stars in 2002, 83 in 2004, 90 in 2009, 107 in 2013, 111 in 2014, 125 in 2017, 129 in 2018, 133 in 2019, 135 in 2020, 137 in 2021, 139 in 2022, and 140 in 2023. Of

399-503: Was closed to international airline traffic and in 1980 to regional airline traffic, but continues serving both domestic and international business aviation. Since 1975, Le Bourget Airport has hosted the Musée de l’air et de l’espace , France's main state-owned aviation museum. Following the discontinuation of regular commercial traffic in 1977, space available to house museum collections and displays has progressively increased. The airport hosts

420-626: Was first held at Le Bourget in 1953, having previously been held at the Grand Palais prior to World War II, and at Orly after the war. The first jet-powered transcontinental flight, which was a Boeing 707 operated by Pan Am , occurred from Idlewild Airport , New York, to Le Bourget, on October 26, 1958, with a fuel stop in Gander, Newfoundland . On 16 June 1961, the Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected at Le Bourget Airport. In 1977, Le Bourget

441-691: Was shot down while on a resupply mission for the French military. They worked for Civil Air Transport , which was later reorganized as Air America. Neither of them has a star on the Memorial Wall. There were more than 30, pilots and other crew members, of the CIA's Air America company who were killed during the Vietnam War that were not counted as part of the Agency even though they worked for it. The names of some of them were: John M. Bannerman, Eugene DeBruin , Joseph C. Cheney, Charles Herrick, John Lerdo Oyer, Jack J. Wells, George L. Ritter, Edward J. Weissenback, and Roy F. Townley. Memorial A memorial

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