In memoriam--Amb. Hermann Fr. Eilts.

AuthorMattox, Henry E.
PositionHermann Frederick Eilts - Obituary

Text:

Ambassador Hermann Frederick Eilts died at the age of eighty-four on October 12 at Wellesley, Mass. His family, the Foreign Service, and indeed the nation lost a dedicated, long-serving American patriot. We at American Diplomacy feel that sense of loss acutely, given that he served for several years on our parent organization's board of directors.

Perhaps best known for the key role he played in crafting the Camp David Accords in 1978, he spent most of his professional life in the Middle East, beginning with service during the Second World War as a U. S. army lieutenant in, of all things, a camel corps unit in the Sudan. It was there that he began seriously his study of the region and the Arabic language. After the war, Eilts, discharged with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, plus several campaign ribbons, earned an M. A. in international studies at Johns Hopkins University. He then entered the Foreign Service.

It was an appropriate career for him in more ways than one. His father had been a pre-World War I diplomat in Imperial Germany's diplomatic corps. After serving as an officer in the German army during that war, eventually the elder Eilts emigrated to the United States with his young family, including Hermann (who obtained his American citizenship upon his father's...

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