Memorial wall to fallen USAID staffers is removed from the agency's former building [View all]

Source: AP


The United States Agency for International Development memorial wall to fallen staffers is photographed at the agency's headquarters, in May 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo)


Updated 7:30 PM EDT, April 30, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — Contractors hired by the Trump administration have removed a memorial wall to fallen staffers from the now-closed headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, with no immediate word on where it will wind up. Individual tiles on the wall honor 99 USAID staffers killed in the line of duty around the world. President John F. Kennedy and Congress created the foreign assistance agency in the early 1960s.

President Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency swiftly moved to dismantle USAID, closing the headquarters and terminating most staff and projects within weeks of Trump’s inauguration.

Crews already had hauled down the agency’s name and banner from buildings in Washington, eradicating traces of an agency whose mission Trump and Musk said was wasteful and contrary to the president’s agenda.

Families of the dead, lawmakers and staffers have worried about whether the memorial would be treated respectfully amid the breakup of USAID. Friday is Foreign Service Day, in the past the occasion of annual ceremonies in which any new names were added to the wall.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/usaid-memorial-removed-killed-staffers-trump-doge-abff84a41e7bd79d1dd023e324fdb4be