Eugene Burns

Eugene Burns was an American author and war correspondent (b. Eugene Burnstein in Estonia). He died on July 15, 1958, at the age of 52, during a street mob revolt in Baghdad, Iraq.

Personal Burns was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1906 to American missionary parents. He pursued his education at the University of Washington, later earning a master's degree from Harvard, and continuing his studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. His academic career led him to teaching positions in English at Albany College in Oregon and the University of Idaho.

He was married to Olga Jackson, sister of Glenn L. Jackson. After sending the first report on the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, he represented the AP with the fleet in the Pacific. He was present at 17 major engagements, including the Guadalcanal campaign. Drawing from these experiences he wrote Then There Was One, a story about the USS Enterprise (CV-6) and the first year of war in the Pacific.

Beyond journalism, Burns authored books on animals and fishing. He wrote the wildlife column Is That So and held various outdoor-related roles, including forest ranger in Washington, timber cruiser in New Hampshire, and naturalist-lecturer at Yellowstone Park. His best-known book, Advanced Fly Fishing, explores dry fly fishing in America. He also wrote Fresh and Salt Water Spinning and provided content for An Angler's Anthology.

Later in life, Burns transitioned from writing and wildlife journalism to organizing the Holy Land Foundation, aiming to promote tourism, combat Communism in the Middle East, and foster friendship between the United States and Arab countries. and other Westerners, were forced into a truck by rebel soldiers to be escorted under guard to a police station.

As the truck traveled through the city, it either stalled or was deliberately stopped. A mob of over 50 people surrounded them, resulting in the deaths of three Americans—Burns, Colley, and Robert Alcock, an Altadena chief engineer—who were beaten and stabbed to death. Their bodies were never recovered but were believed to have been buried in a common grave alongside other victims of the violence. The coup, known as the 14 July Revolution, led to the overthrow of King Faisal II and the establishment of the Republic of Iraq.