Charles R. Ray

On January 18, 1982, Colonel Charles Robert Ray, a United States Army officer who was serving as an assistant military attaché in France, was assassinated in front of his Paris home by Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese communist militant affiliated with the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions. Abdallah was convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison. He was released on July 24, 2025, and repatriated to Beirut.

Background Charles R. Ray (September 14, 1938 – January 18, 1982) was born in New York City. Having been commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1960, he was a distinguished military intelligence officer, and a Bronze Star-decorated veteran of the Vietnam war. He later graduated from the University of Santa Clara. During the late 1970s, he resided in Northern Virginia, where he was an active parishioner at St. Bernadette's Roman Catholic Church in Springfield, Virginia, and was responsible for coordinating the altar servers.

Ray was dispatched to Paris in order to serve as the Assistant Army Attaché, which he did for 18 months. His first assignment as a military attaché, he was one of four at the embassy. On November 12, 1981, a lone gunman brandishing a 7.62 mm caliber pistol almost succeeded in assassinating U.S. chargé d'affaires Christian Chapman outside his home in Paris. He escaped by ducking underneath his car.

Funeral

A state funeral was held for Ray at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, where he and his family had attended Mass since they first arrived in Paris in 1980. Following the Mass, Ray's body was flown back to the U.S. for a service at St. Bernadette's. Ray was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. He issued the following statement regarding Ray:

Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Ray, our Assistant Army Attaché in Paris, was a distinguished career officer. He gave his life in the line of duty as surely as if he had fallen in battle. Our hearts go out to his family in their bereavement, and the wanton act of his murderers reinforces our determination to stamp out international terrorism and prevent similar tragedies in the future. Abdallah was released on July 24, 2025 and arrived to Beirut, Lebanon, the next day.