The Foreign Service Journal, December 2003

but when he impressed on me that ‘our first job now must be getting those women out,’ I knew he was right.” She wrote in her diary, “I will cheer when they return.” While Losey drove west over a mountain road from Sweden back into Norway, the Hagen party moved from the Norwegian coast into the barren, snow-covered Dovre Mountains by car, bus and sled. They eventually traveled through a rail intersection, named Dombas, before reaching safety in Fjällnäs, Sweden. When Losey reached Dombas the party had already passed through. “Cut Off — and For What?” Dombas, a strategic intersection along Norway’s roads and rail net- work, was high on the German Luftwaffe’s list of targets. On Sunday, April 21, while Losey was still in Dombas, the Luftwaffe attacked. He and Amb. Harriman’s chauffeur had loaded the flag-draped car onto a train, and as the bombers arrived overhead, the passengers all ran for a railway tunnel to escape the strafing and bombing. Swooping down on the junction, German bombers dropped their deadly payloads, aim- ing to destroy the rail facilities. Losey, too, rushed to shelter. But as an air officer he lingered about 30 feet inside the entrance to the rail tunnel, making observations on the air battle above him. Suddenly, a bomb exploded into the earth close by, showering everything around with deadly fragments. One piece shot into the tunnel straight for Losey. It sank deeply into his chest, penetrat- ing his heart. That same day an urgent telegram arrived at the American legation in Stockholm. It read: “American Military Attaché Captain Losey was killed by German bomber plane at Dombas today. Inform Mrs. Harriman. He will be sent tomorrow, Monday, via Roros to Fjällnäs where instructions from legation are await- ed.” Harriman received a phone call from an aide telling her the news. “Cut off — and for what?” she sadly wrote. Instructions were sent to Lt. Commander Hagen to take delivery of the body in Fjällnäs. Following a memorial service in Sweden for Losey, Florence Harriman wrote, “All our hearts ached for the young wife in California who must go on without him. She would be hearing [war correspondent Arthur] Menken on the radio to America, telling of the service; she would read the beautiful tributes to him in the American press; she would not have the picture of the friends of his last winter, who mourned him in the north.” Captain Robert Losey’s wife, Kay, collapsed when news of his death reached her at her home in Hollywood, California. “The death of Captain Losey, who is the first American official to be killed in this war, was reported today to Frederick A. Sterling, United States Minister to Stockholm,” recorded the New York Times on its front page on April 23, 1940. Captain Robert M. Losey, America’s first mili- tary casualty in World War II, would not be its last. The citizens of Dombas, Norway erected a monument in Losey’s honor in 1987. ■ 68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 3 A young and brilliant officer, Losey earned two master’s degrees at the California Institute of Technology and attended West Point. AN INVITATION FOR S U MM E R F I C T I O N O nce again the FSJ is seeking works of fiction of up to 3,000 words for its annual summer fiction issue. Story lines or characters involving the Foreign Service are preferred, but not required. The top stories, selected by the Journal ’s Editorial Board, will be published in the July/August issue; some of them will also be simultaneously posted on the Journal ’s Web site. The writer of each story will receive an honorarium of $250, payable upon publication. All stories must be previous- ly unpublished. Submissions should be unsigned and accompanied by a cover sheet with author’s name, address, telephone number(s) and e-mail address. Deadline is April 1. No fooling. Please also note the following: • Authors are limited to two entries. • Entries will only be accept- ed by e-mail (preferably in the form of Word or Word Perfect attachments and with the text copied into the body of the message) Please send submissions (or questions) to the atten- tion of Mikkela Thompson, Journal Business Manager, at T hompsonm@afsa.org.