E._Allan_Lightner,_Jr.
E. Allan Lightner, Jr.
Ambassador and US embassy and DOS official
Edwin Allan Lightner (December 7, 1907 - September 15, 1990) is US embassy official and employee of the United States Department of State. He served as Ambassador to Libya from 1963 to 1965. In 1961 while serving as assistant chief of the U.S. Mission in Berlin, Lightner was detained twice by East German border guards in October 1961 when he crossed into East Berlin to underscore the United States' determination to have unrestricted access to all occupation zones in Berlin. He also participated in the Berlin exchange of Francis Gary Powers, the American U-2 pilot shot down during a reconnaissance flight over the Soviet Union in 1960.