"THE U-2 INCIDENT" - Francis Gary Powers, Jr.

Tuesday, June 25 - 8:00 AM - Cristo Rey School

315 N. Belmont Ave. (formerly Benedictine High School)

"THE U-2 INCIDENT"
Gary Powers, Jr.

REGISTER

Our June speaker is Gary Powers Jr., the son of Francis Gary Powers, an American pilot whose Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying at 70,000 feet on a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace during the height of the Cold War in 1960. (See below)

Gary is an historian, author, and speaker focused on the Cold War, the period of geopolitical tension between the US and Russia that lasted from just after the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. His work and his talk to Encorepreneur are dedicated to preserving the history of the war, honoring its veterans, and educating future generations about the time period.

Gary is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of The Cold War Museum located 45 miles west of Washington, DC. As Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Cold War Theme Study he worked to identify historic Cold War sites and has recently published a book identifying such sites in Virginia. In 2015, he consulted for a Steven Spielberg Cold War thriller, Bridge of Spies, about James Donovan who brokered the 1962 spy exchange between KGB spy Rudolph Abel and his father.

Gary is the author of Letters from a Soviet Prison (2017), Spy Pilot (2019), and Enemy Territory (2022) which help to dispel the misinformation surrounding the U-2 Incident. He is a past Board Member of the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum near Omaha, NE and an Honorary Board Member of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

Gary lectures internationally and appears regularly on C-SPAN, the History, Discovery, and A&E Channels.

FRANCIS GARY POWERS

Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying at 70,000 feet on a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace during the height of the Cold War in 1960.

The Russians tried to shoot the plane down with MIG-19’s, attempted to ram it with a high altitude unarmed transit plane, and launched 14 newly developed surface-to-air missiles to shoot it down. One of the missiles found its target and what was left of the plane began spinning towards the ground.

According to his book Operation Overflight, Powers delayed activating the camera's self-destruct mechanism until he made sure he could exit the cockpit before the charges detonated. When g-forces unexpectedly threw him from the spinning aircraft, he could no longer reach the destruct switches. While descending under his parachute, he was able to scatter his escape map and part of his suicide device, but he hit the ground hard. He was immediately captured, and taken to prison in Moscow. The plane was recovered largely intact.

Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 10 years' confinement, three of which were to be in a prison, with the remainder in a labor camp. He was held in Vladimir Central Prison and, as depicted in Steven Spielberg’s 2015 movie “Bridge of Spies,” he was exchanged for Soviet Spy Colonel Rudolph Abel on February 10, 1962.

Following his return to the United States, Powers was extensively debriefed and cleared by the CIA and shown "to be a fine young man performing well under dangerous circumstances" by the Senate Select Committee assembled to investigate the U-2 Incident. Senator Barry Goldwater sent him a handwritten note: "You did a good job for your country."

Francis Gary Powers’ awards and decorations include:

• ·        USAF Silver Star
• ·        Prisoner of War Medal
• ·        Distinguished Flying Cross
• ·        National Defense Service Medal
• ·        CIA Director's Medal for Extreme Fidelity and Courage
• ·        CIA Intelligence Star for Valor
  
  

OUR HOST

(The "Old" Benedictene High School)

313 N Belmont Ave, Richmond, VA 23221

Cristo Rey Richmond High School is a co-ed, private college preparatory high school (grades 9-12) in Richmond that educates young people of limited economic means to become men and women of faith, purpose, and service. The Cristo Rey model combines academics with a real-world work study program. The money our students make from their job pays the majority of their tuition.