Francis E. Meloy, Jr.

Francis Edward Meloy Jr. (March 28, 1917 – June 16, 1976) was a U.S. diplomat murdered in Beirut, Lebanon in 1976 by Lebanese leftist militants.

Early life Francis Edward Meloy Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 1917, to Francis E. Meloy Sr. a government employee and geographer and Anne Teresa Connor. He served in the United States Navy during World War II spending four years in naval intelligence as a reserve officer. He would be approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 27.

Death At 10:40 on June 16, 1976, in Beirut, Meloy, the incoming U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, accompanied by Robert O. Waring, the U.S. Economic Counselor, was on his way to present his credentials to the new Lebanese President-elect Elias Sarkis. Meloy, Waring and their driver, Zuhair Mohammed Moghrabi, were kidnapped by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members as they crossed the Green Line, the division between Beirut's Christian and Muslim sectors. The 2013 CIA report noted that the PLO had arrested five over the assassination but released them for lack of sufficient evidence. The PLO handed two culprits to the PFLP and they were later executed, the report added.