William Richard Higgins (January 15, 1945 – July 31, 1989) was a United States Marine Corps colonel who was captured in Lebanon in 1988 while serving on a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission. He was held hostage, tortured, and, 17 months later, he was murdered by his captors.
Biography
William Higgins was born in Danville, Kentucky, on January 15, 1945. He graduated from Southern High School in Louisville and earned his bachelor's degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. A scholarship student in the Navy ROTC, he received the Marine Corps Association Award and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1967. He later obtained master's degrees from Pepperdine University and Auburn University. He graduated from the Army Infantry Officers Advanced Course, the Air Force Command and Staff College, and the National War College. In 1985, three years before Higgins's kidnapping, William Francis Buckley, another retired American lieutenant colonel working for the CIA had been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. On February 17, 1988, this situation repeated itself when Higgins, who was serving as the Chief, Observer Group Lebanon and Senior Military Observer, United Nations Military Observer Group, United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, was abducted.
Higgins was driving alone on the coastal highway between Tyre and Naqoura in southern Lebanon, returning from a meeting with a local leader of the Amal movement, when a car blocked the road in front of him and forced him to stop, after which he was pulled from his vehicle by armed men suspected of being affiliated with Hezbollah.
As a reaction to his abduction, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 618, demanding his release.
During his captivity, he was interrogated and tortured.
Higgins was eventually charged with "spying for the criminal United States on our Lebanese and Palestinian peoples,” and "active participation in American conspiracies against our Muslim people.” Higgins, the statement went on to elaborate, worked in Lebanon supervising a "Pentagon team to combat Lebanese and Palestinian Islamic organizations in Palestine and Lebanon.” American governmental officials rejected the accusations as "nonsense,” and noted that Higgins had not been working on behalf of the United States government, but for the United Nations on a peacekeeping mission.
On July 31, 1989, the group announced that it had executed Higgins by hanging, and publicly released a videotape of the act along with a statement calling the graphic footage "an opening gift" for Israel and the United States. This was in retaliation for the abduction of Hezbollah leader Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid by Israeli commandos in South Lebanon, July 27, 1989, during which two other people accompanying Obeid also were taken and a neighbour killed.
The footage showed images of Higgins' body hanging by the neck as he slowly suffocated to death, The video was also examined by Israeli security services, who raised doubts about its authenticity. Among other things, Higgins is seen in the video wearing a coat and winter clothes, which do not match the summer weather in July in Lebanon. Afterwards, with the return of his body to the Americans, knife cuts were discovered in his throat – which was likely the cause of death. According to the researchers who examined all the evidence, Higgins was murdered in December 1988.
Higgins was declared dead on July 6, 1990. His remains were recovered on December 23, 1991, by Major Jens Nielsen of the Royal Danish Army, who was attached to the United Nations Observation Group in Beirut. The remains were found in an advanced state of decomposition beside a mosque near a south Beirut hospital. His body had been buried for several months prior. After Higgins was murdered, his kidnappers buried the body. They then dug it out almost a year later, with their public statements.
A memorial and religious service for Higgins had previously been held in November 1989 at Louisville's Southern High School, from which Higgins had graduated in 1963. Hezbollah responded one month later by attacking the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 29 people.
In 1999, Higgins' widow filed a civil suit against Iran as the main sponsor of Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard in the United States Federal district court. The court ruled in her favor and issued a default judgment ordering the defendants, including the Islamic Republic Iran, to pay $57 million in compensatory damages to Higgin's widow and daughter for the 529 days he was held and tortured. The court ordered an additional $300 million in punitive damages be paid by the Revolutionary Guard. Iran showed no intention of paying the damage award.
Military awards
Higgins' military decorations and awards include the following:
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|colspan="12"|Parachutist Badge
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|colspan="6"|Defense Distinguished Service Medal
|colspan="6"|Defense Superior Service Medal
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|colspan="4"|Legion of Merit
|colspan="4"|Bronze Star Medal<br>w/ Combat "V"
|colspan="4"|Purple Heart
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|colspan="4"|Meritorious Service Medal
|colspan="4"|Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal<br />w/ Combat "V" and " Gold Star
|colspan="4"|Combat Action Ribbon<br>w/ " Gold Star
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|colspan="4"|Navy Unit Commendation<br />w/ two " Bronze Stars
|colspan="4"|Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation<br>w/ " Bronze Star
|colspan="4"|Presidential Citizen Medal
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|colspan="4"|Prisoner of War Medal
|colspan="4"|National Defense Service Medal
|colspan="4"|Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
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|colspan="4"|Vietnam Service Medal<br>w/ " Silver Star and " Bronze Star
|colspan="4"|Navy and Marine Corps Sea Service Deployment Ribbon
|colspan="4"|Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon
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|colspan="4"|Vietnam Cross of Gallantry<br>w/ " Silver Star
|colspan="4"|Vietnam Staff Service Medal<br>1st Class
|colspan="4"|Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation
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|colspan="4"|Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Medal
|colspan="4"|United Nations Medal
|colspan="4"|Vietnam Campaign Medal
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In April 2003, he was posthumously granted a Prisoner of War Medal. In 1998, Department of Defense General Counsel, Judith A. Miller, initially blocked the award, based on the claim that "circumstances do not appear to meet the criteria established by Congress for award of the Prisoner of War Medal." The Navy later overruled her after it was determined that the 1989 expansion of the eligibility criteria allowed the award.
Other awards and honors
On March 18, 1992, President George Bush awarded Colonel Higgins the Presidential Citizens Medal (posthumous). The medal was accepted by his wife, Robin, and daughter, Chrissy. Higgins was also survived by two sisters.
On February 17, 1994, the Secretary of the Navy announced a new Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer would be named after Higgins. On October 4, 1997, the was christened by Higgins' widow, Robin Higgins and commissioned on April 24, 1999.
See also
- William Francis Buckley: A retired lieutenant colonel from the United States Army working as a CIA officer in Lebanon who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by Islamic militants in 1985.
- List of kidnappings
- List of solved missing person cases: 1950–1999
References
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