The Foreign Service Journal, February 2005

L E T T E R S u 8 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 5 (and most informative) parts was the short paragraph describing each Foreign Service author. These helped put the book, the times and the writer into a useful context. David Hughes FSO, retired Woodinville, Wash. More Memories of Hume I just saw the piece, “Appreciation: Tributes to An Outstanding Diplo- mat, Hume Alexander Horan, Part II” in the October issue of the Journal . Having missed the Septem- ber issue containing the first install- ment of the Appreciation during our move to post, I was surprised and sad- dened to learn of his death. So I would like to share my own experi- ence with him. I was in Khartoum on temporary duty in the mid-1980s, during the thick of the Libyan-led attacks on U.S. personnel and installations. The Libyans had just shot my colleague, a new-hire information management specialist, and all dependents had been evacuated in the middle of the night. There were daily reports of “being followed,” “being shot at,” or “being chased.” The communications center was working 24/7 with only two people for a couple of weeks, until a second TDYer was able to make it to post. I was staying at the Acropole Hotel, a center for journalists and charity workers. Several of them would crowd around my radio to lis- ten to Ambassador Horan’s daily sta- tus report broadcasts. He always found the time, while in the commu- nications center after his broadcast, to converse with us on subjects not relat- ing to the crisis surrounding us. At his residence, where the second TDY information management specialist was billeted, there was a surreal sense of calm. One day my colleague invited me for a swim after work. As we sat by the pool, Amb. Horan came out to the patio, turned on the music, and pro- ceeded to skip rope for an hour while, in the background, the security offi- cer ran the local guards, armed with automatic weapons, through seek- and-destroy exercises. The administrative counselor would come up daily to see what else he could do for us. The DCM would join us for breakfast in the cafeteria for small talk. It was hard to believe that we were constantly in danger until we stepped outside or until peo- ple reported to work wearing their bulletproof vests. Horan’s influence brought about a work environment of cooperative calm that I have not wit- nessed since that time. The past couple of years, while assigned to the department, I used to see Amb. Horan in the cafeteria or hallways at FSI. I would point him out to my wife or colleagues and recount the dangerous days that seemed so normal then. I kept mean- ing to re-introduce myself one of these days, but, as always happens, opportunities pass us by. Rudy Garcia Information Processing Officer Embassy Seoul n Send your letters to: journal@afsa.org. Note that all letters are subject to editing for style, format and length.