Background
Robbins was born in South Dakota and raised primarily in Colorado, where she received secretarial training at Colorado State University from 1961-1963.
Robbins was born in South Dakota and raised primarily in Colorado, where she received secretarial training at Colorado State University from 1961-1963.
Colorado State University.
She was killed in a car bombing of the United States Embassy, Saigon. Robbins was the first female employee to be killed in action in the Central Intelligence Agency"s history, the first American woman killed in the Vietnam War and, as of 2012, the youngest Central Intelligence Agency employee to die in action. Robbins, who had not previously traveled outside the United States, volunteered for the assignment in Saigon.
When asked by her father Buford, a Navy veteran, about her decision, she reportedly told him: "When they get to West Colfax, mister, you"ll wish you"d done something."
On March 30, 1965, a car bomb exploded outside the embassy.
Before the explosion, there was a confrontation between the driver and a policeman and Robbins went to the window of her second-story office to see what was happening. She was killed instantly.
A Filipino storekeeper serving in the United States Navy was killed, along with 19 Vietnamese. The Central Intelligence Agency honored Robbins with a star on the Memorial Wall in its headquarters building in Langley, Virginia.
The wall pays tribute to personnel killed while working for the agency.
However, for many years the agency omitted Robbins" name from the display"s Book of Honor, which lists the names of the slain employees, citing security concerns since Robbins was working under the guise of an employee of the State Department. In May 2011, Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta announced that Robbins" name would be inscribed in the Book of Honor.
She joined the Central Intelligence Agency soon after graduation, motivated by a desire to participate in efforts to combat communism.