US ambassadors killed in the line of duty

[September 12, 2012]   (AP) -- J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was killed Tuesday in the attack on the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi by protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

According to the State Department Office of the Historian, five U.S. ambassadors have been killed by terrorists:

• Adolph Dubs, in Afghanistan, 1979

• Francis E. Meloy Jr., in Lebanon, 1976

• Rodger P. Davies, in Cyprus, 1974

• Cleo A. Noel Jr., in Sudan, 1973

• John Gordon Mein, in Guatemala, 1968

Two other U.S. ambassadors have died in plane crashes:

• Arnold L. Raphel, in Pakistan, 1988

• Laurence A. Steinhardt, in Canada, 1950

[Associated Press]

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