Wednesday October 15th, 2003

Francis Somers

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Francis Eugene Somers, 85, of Annapolis, Md., died Oct. 11, 2003.

Services will be at 10:3= 0 a.m. Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy. Burial will be in = Arlington National<= /st1:PlaceName> Cemetery at 9 a.m. Nov. 24. John M. Tayl= or Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Naval Academy Alumni Association, Attn: NAFAC.

Somers was born in Cowley County on July 19, 1918, and attended schools in Winfield and = Arkansas City. He entered the U.S. Naval Ac= ademy in 1937 and was commissioned with the Class of 1941.

During World War II Somers served on the destroyers Buck, Wilkes, Marsha= ll and Henry W. Tucker during convoy escort in the north Atlantic, amphibious landings in North Africa and Sicily and = in support of carrier and landing operations on the South Pacific, Marshall and Gilbert islands and the Philippine Sea. His final assignment= under Admiral “Ching” Lee was to evaluate= and develop weapons and doctrine for kamikaze attacks. At the end of the war, he was assigned to the gunnery staff of the newly formed Operational Developme= nt Force.

Somers transferred to the Naval Reserve in 1947 and served as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Wash= ington, D.C., and Detroit, Mich., from 1947 to 1950. In 1950 he returned to active service in the Navy during= the Korean War. He was assigned to the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project and participated in test and development of nuclear we= apons at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory and Nevada Proving Grounds until 1953.

In 1955 he returned to inactive status in the Navy and entered duty in t= he Office of Scientific Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. He served as secretary for the Joint Atomic Energy Intelligence Committee and later for = the Joint Guided Missile and Space Intelligence Committee. In 1960 he was poste= d to Tokyo, Jap= an, as scientific intelligence officer for the Far East and Southeast Asia.

In 1963 he returned to CIA headquarters as chief of plans and programs, = and in 1965 he was posted to Londo= n as deputy chief of station and worked on technical intelligence. In 1968 he= was transferred to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where he worked in the weather reconnaissance squadron to support deploymen= t of a new U-2 aircraft.

He returned to CIA headquarters in 1969 and was assigned to a joint CIA-= Navy program for the recovery of a sunken Soviet submarine in the Pacific.

In 1971 he was posted to Vietnam and coordinated production and dissemination of intelligence from CIA regio= nal offices until the war ended in 1973.

Following retirement in late 1973, Somers worked for Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. as a management analyst and consultant on national security. After retiring in 1987, he joined USATREX International Inc. and worked there unt= il 1999 as a contract specialist and technical editor to assist in the formati= on of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in the Department of State.

Somers received a number of citations for performance on security projec= ts and activities at the CIA and the Department of State. Other recognition included Navy theater ribbons, the CIA Intelligence Medal for Honorable Ser= vice and the CIA Career Intelligence Medal for Exceptional Achievement.

His first wife, Gail Tyler Koss Somers, died= in 1958, and a son, Eugene Tyler Somers, died in 1949.

Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Ann Kelsey Somers, Annapolis; fo= ur sons, Michael K. Somers, Staunton, Va., John V. Kelsey, Chevy Chase, Md., B= rian R. Kelsey, Bethesda, Md., and Robert D. Somers, Edmond, Okla.; three daught= ers, Mary Kathleen Dunsmore, Grand Terrace, Calif., Suzanne Kelsey Malloy, South Norwalk, Conn., and Julia L. Widman, Great Falls, Va.; 16 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. |index= |

Source :

Windf= ield Courier

http://www.winfieldcourier.com/obit/o031017.html