THE DAUGHTER OF AN AMERICAN PILOT KILLED FLYING WEAPONS TO CONTRA GUERRILLAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890059-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 59
• Publication Date: April 22, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890059-1
P_SSOCIATED PRESS
STAT 22 April 1987
By JOAN MOWER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
The daughter of an American pilot killed flying weapons to Contra guerrillas
said today she hopes the Nicaraguan goverment has _ and will hand over _ papers
that may prove her contention her father worked for a secret, U.S.-based effort
to supply the rebels.
"It is just a big mess," Patty French said of her efforts to sort out her
father's estate.
French, who lives in Long Beach, Calif., said in a telephone interview that
she thinks her father's missing personal papers may be in the hands of the
Sandinistas, who shot down a C-123k cargo plane over Nicaragua last Oct. 5.
Her father, William J. Cooper, 61, died, along with Wallace B. Sawyer Jr.,
41, another pilot, and a Nicaraguan. Eugene Hasenfus, 45, of Marinette, Wis.,
was captured, but later released.
French, a Navy employee, said she has made repeated efforts through the State
Department to contact the Nicaraguan government to see if it has her father's
briefcase. So far, she has not gotten an answer.
If she can get the papers, French thinks they may reveal Cooper's employer.
Although French has no proof, she is convinced from talking to her father's
friends that he was hired, perhaps indirectly, by the network operated by
retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord and an associate, retired Col. Robert C.
Dutton.
Secord, who has refused requests for interviews for months, is thought by
federal and congressional investigators to have played a key role in supplying
weapons to the Contras at a time when Congress banned military aid to the
rebels.
Both French and Sawyer's father, Wallace B ., said the pilots left
outstanding credit card bills from their time in Central America.
"Those bills were incurred in his line of work," Wallace B. Sawyer Sr. said.
The elder Sawyer, interviewed Tuesday by telephone in Magnolia, Ark., said
there is a lapsed credit card bill of about $3,500, as well as burial costs of
about $875. An unknown person earlier paid about $3,000 for the funeral, he
said.
STAT
STAT
"There has not been a settlement made by his employer," said the elder
Sawyer, noting that his son left a Thai-born wife, Kasanee, and a 4-year-old
son. The family is living off Social Security and a lump sum payment from a
private insurance company, he said.
After the crash, the State Department paid to have Sawyer's body flown home
from Managua, Nicaragua, even though the department usually doesn't pick up the
tab for Americans killed abroad, department spokeswoman Ruth Van Heuven said.
"Unique circumstances called for an exception" in the Sawyer case, she said,
adding that the Sandinistas had dumped the pilots' bodies outside the U.S.
Embassy after the crash. Cooper's body was cremated, French said. ~T_??t
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Mary Rodgers at the Lewis Funeral Home in Magnolia said an unidentified man
walked in and handed the firm an envelope full of cash the day of Sawyer's
funeral. Van Heuven said the U.S. government did not contribute toward Sawyer's
burial.
In the first step toward determining who hired Sawyer, the family has filed a
petition in Columbia County's probate court seeking an administrator for the
estate.
The procedure could lead to a lawsuit against Sawyer's unknown employer, or
against a third party, possibly the federal government, said family lawyer
Winslow Drummond in Little Rock, Ark.
Although the CIA and other government agencies denied they knew anything
about the cargo plane after it crashed last year, a report by a presidential
review board showed that top White House officials were notified about the
accident almost immediately.
Computer messages in the so-called Tower report indicated the plane was part
of a private aid network for the Contras that Lt. Col. Oliver North allegedly
helped run from the National Security Council. North was fired for allegedly
helping to divert profits from the secret sale of weapons to Iran to the
Contras.
"One of the Democracy Inc. aircraft apparently went down on a resupply
mission to (Contra) forces in the north," Robert Earl, who shared an office with
North, reported Oct. 6, 1986 to then-National Security Adviser John Poindexter.
"I will keep you advised of details as I get them," Earl wrote. North was out of
the country when the crash occurred.
North coined the term Project Democracy to refer to the private aid network.
The elder Sawyer said his son and other aviators were "all pilots for money."
But he said he had no evidence of a signed agreement with any company.
Hasenfus, who recently visited the Sawyer family in Magnolia, said he was
hired by the Pennsylvania-based Corporate Air Services, an affiliate of
Southern Air Transport, a Miami-based company formerly owned by the CIA.
The head of Corporate Air, Edward T. de Garay, has been granted limited
immunity from prosecution concerning testimony he might give the congressional
committees investigating the Iran-Contra affair.
Southern Air denied any connection with the downed cargo plane, but company
spokesman William Kress said Sawyer was employed by the company until 1985.
Sawyer, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, flew military cargo missions in
Thailand until he resigned.
12.
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