Richard Fecteau


Richard G. Fecteau of Lynn, Massachusetts was a Central Intelligence Agency operative who was captured by operatives of the People's Republic of China during a CIA-sponsored flight over mainland China during the Korean War. News of the capture of Fecteau and John T. Downey reached the United States in November 1954, sparking a nearly 2 decade battle of wills between the U.S. and the PRC. Fecteau was released in December 1971. He later worked as an assistant athletic director at his alma mater, Boston University, retiring in 1989.

CIA career

He joined the Central Intelligence Agency soon after Boston University and became one of two CIA Paramilitary Officers in Special Activities Division who survived the shoot-down of their mission over the People's Republic of China in November 1952. Both were captured and spent approximately the next two decades in Chinese prisons before release.
In 2013, the CIA awarded Fecteau the Distinguished Intelligence Cross. The CIA's Studies in Intelligence, vol. 50, no. 4, 2006 included an article describing the mission, the capture, and, ultimately, the release of agents Downey and Fecteau. A related video documentary was placed on the CIA website.