The Foreign Service Journal, December 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2020 49 In a March 2014 Foreign Service Journal essay, Mr. Vorder- strasse reported documenting an additional 32 names of diplomats and consular officers who died overseas in the line of duty. By 2019, the number had risen to 39. In December 2019, on the recommendation of the AFSA Awards and Plaques Committee, the AFSA Governing Board voted to add those 39 names to the plaques (along with nine other historical names documented by two other AFSA members) when funding is available to install and inscribe additional marble plaques. In early 2020, he nominated five additional names that the Governing Board approved in June 2020. This was followed by one additional name in 2020. He shares his story of this project in the November Foreign Service Journal , “America’s Overlooked Diplomats and Consuls Who Died in the Line of Duty.” AFSA is currently coordinating with the Department of State’s Bureau of Administration in hopes of adding additional memorial plaque space on which to inscribe these names in time for the annual AFSA Memorial Plaque ceremony in May 2021. For now, the names are memorialized on a virtual plaque on the AFSA website at afsa.org/memorial-plaques. “Research is generally a solitary process, so receiving this award is welcome recognition of the value of the many hours I have spent in archives, cemeteries and online,” Mr. Vorder- strasse says. “When the new plaques are unveiled with addi- tional rediscovered names, I hope it will inspire those who pass through the C Street lobby to learn more about those who gave their lives as part of our shared work to advance U.S. diplomatic initiatives around the world.” Jason Vorderstrasse is currently serving as the diplomat in residence for Southern California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. He joined the State Department in 2004, and has previously served in Kingston, Hong Kong, Tijuana and Washington, D.C. He holds a law degree from Golden Gate University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Pomona College.