CIA Memorial Wall: The Watches of Fallen CIA Officers

From a Rolex recovered from a Cold War crash site in China to a Sea-Dweller and Panerai worn by a protective contractor defending the CIA annex in Benghazi, the watches of fallen CIA personnel offer rare insight into the lives of America’s quiet professionals 

Memorial Day honors all military members who have died while serving in the US armed forces. On this day, we also reflect on the officers who made the ultimate sacrifice at the Central Intelligence Agency. Some I knew personally, some by reputation, and many others were lost years before I joined. All of them are heroes, and many were also veterans of the armed forces.

At CIA, we honor our fallen with stars on the Memorial Wall at the main entrance of the Old Headquarters Building (OHB). The Memorial Wall is hallowed ground, and whenever I departed HQS for an overseas posting or returned from a PCS/LTTDY, I made a conscious effort to use this entrance and to pause at the wall to silently pay my respects.

The recently-added 141st star on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Memorial Wall honors an officer whose name and specific details remain classified for operational security

According to publicly available information, there are currently 141 stars on the wall, the most recent added last week during a private ceremony. The names are recorded in the CIA’s Book of Honor, with many of the spaces left blank as they are still classified. Traditionally, additional names and stars are added during a small ceremony held on or around Memorial Day, each hand-engraved into the Alabama marble. A simple inscription on the wall reads: 

In Honor of Those Members of the Central Intelligence Agency Who Gave Their Lives in the Service of Their Country. 

Today, we take a look at two of the stars on that wall in the way we know best, through their watches. Of course, in reality, watches are insignificant, but this is our way of honoring those who came before us.  

Tyrone “Rone” Woods - 12 September 2012, Benghazi, Libya

Opening of The Tyrone S. Woods Memorial Park in Oregon City, a Rolex Sea-Dweller reference 16660 displayed on his wrist (Credit: KATU)

Tyrone S. Woods was a CIA protective contractor who lost his life in the service of his country while defending a CIA facility in Benghazi, Libya, early on the morning of September 12, 2012. The protective officers are a cadre of staff officers and contractors responsible for protecting Agency personnel, facilities, and sensitive operations in high-threat environments overseas. A former US Navy SEAL, he dedicated his life to defending others. 

Rone had at least two notable watches, including a Rolex Sea-Dweller reference 16660, which he appears to wear in several photos, and a Panerai Luminor Marina. Rolex and Panerai both have deep roots within the Naval Special Warfare community, with Rolex Submariners and Sea-Dwellers becoming favored tools among frogmen and SEALs during and after the Vietnam War.

Rone pictured during his time in the Teams, with his Rolex Sea-Dweller on his wrist.

Decades later, Panerai developed an almost cult-like following within Naval Special Warfare during the Global War on Terror, prized for its oversized case and association with maritime special operations, having originally produced oversized luminous dive watches for Italian naval combat swimmers and commandos during the Second World War.

As documented by Rolex Magazine, almost two years before his death, “he (Woods) registered an account with Rolex Forums under the username “sdfrog177.” He wrote a post mentioning the sale of his Panerai Luminor Marina 44mm and a Rolex Sea-Dweller “triple 6 model (1983-1984 model). Thanks, T.W.”, he signed at the bottom. 

A 2010 post by Woods on Rolex Forums confirmed his Rolex was a Sea-Dweller 16660.

What happened to the watches? We can only speculate. All these years later, the thread is still up on Rolex forums, but it has gone without a response. Shortly after posting the message, Woods would have likely traveled to Libya on what would become his final deployment.

According to a declassified CIA document:

On the morning of September 12, the CIA Base was subjected to repeated mortar fire… Defending the Base from the rooftop, they died when a mortar round landed near them. Tyrone Woods loved his life, his family, and his country. All who knew him remember that he was a joy to be around, and he always made people feel better. Tyrone was 41 years old.

In 2013, Tyrone Woods was honored with a star on the CIA Memorial Wall alongside fellow former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Glen Doherty, who was killed beside him during the defense of the Benghazi annex.

Interestingly, James Badge Dale, who played Rone in the movie 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, wore a Rolex Submariner, which must have been a subtle nod of respect to the hero. (Of note, as is common for Hollywood propmasters, Badge Dale’s screen-worn watch is likely a replica.)

Norman Schwartz - 29 November 1952, Manchuria

(Photo Credit: Cole Pennington/Hodinkee)

Recovered from the wreckage of the CIA covert mission in northern China more than fifty years after it crashed, Norman Schwartz’s Rolex Datejust remained frozen near midnight beneath a corroded crystal and a deep scar on the caseback. The damaged watch is a powerful symbol of the quiet sacrifices made by CIA personnel whose stories often remained hidden from public view for decades. 

Schwartz's star was not added to the wall until 1998, along with his copilot Robert C. Snoddy, both of whom were posthumously awarded the CIA Distinguished Intelligence Cross. Like Woods, Schwartz was a contractor and not a staff officer. 

Norman Schwartz was a former Marine Corps fighter pilot who flew the F4U Corsair in the Pacific during the Second World War before later joining Civil Air Transport (CAT), a civilian airline secretly operated by the CIA throughout East Asia. Like many CAT pilots, Schwartz outwardly appeared to be a civilian cargo pilot (including the watch) while quietly supporting some of the Agency’s most dangerous covert missions during the early Cold War.

(Photo Credit: Cole Pennington/Hodinkee)

On 29 November 1952, Schwartz and co-pilot Robert Snoddy flew an unmarked C-47 deep into northern China alongside CIA officers John Downey and Richard Fecteau. Their mission was to extract an anti-Communist agent using the experimental “All American Pick Up” system, an early airborne recovery technique in which a hook extended from the aircraft would snag a line suspended between two poles on the ground while the agent, attached to the line by a harness, would be lifted violently into the air and reeled into the aircraft. 

As the aircraft descended just above the treetops for the extraction, concealed Chinese machine gun positions opened fire, revealing the mission had been compromised. The aircraft crashed just before midnight, killing Schwartz and Snoddy instantly, while Downey and Fecteau survived and spent decades imprisoned in China. For years, the true nature of the mission remained classified, and Schwartz’s family was told only that he had disappeared during a routine flight. 

The operation would be commemorated in a painting in the CIA’s art collection, Ambush in Manchuria.

(Photo Credit: Cole Pennington/Hodinkee)

As written by our friend Cole Pennington in a previous Hodinkee article titled, “The Watch That Came in From The Cold”, investigators excavating the 1952 crash site in northern China in 2004 recovered possible human remains along with several personal effects, including Norman Schwartz’s Rolex Oyster Datejust, which had remained buried underground for more than fifty years. 

Schwartz Rolex on the Book of Honor at CIA Headquarters (Credit: Erik Kirzinger)

Final Thoughts

As is often the case at W.O.E., the watches discussed in this Dispatch are ultimately insignificant compared to the lives of the men who wore them. But they remain tangible artifacts and talismans of individuals who operated in the shadows, often with little public recognition and, in many cases, no acknowledgment at all for decades. 

A Rolex Datejust recovered from a Cold War crash site in Manchuria or a Sea-Dweller worn by a CIA contractor serve as small but deeply powerful insights into our community and the type of men and women who work there.

On Memorial Day, we remember all Americans who gave their lives in service, including the quiet professionals commemorated by stars on the CIA Memorial Wall. Their stories, whether publicly known or still classified, deserve to be remembered.

This Dispatch has been reviewed by the CIA’s Prepublication Classification Review Board to prevent the disclosure of classified information. All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the US Government.  Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying US Government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views.  

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