Glenn Eschtruth

Who was Glenn Eschtruth?

Glen J. Eschtruth, M.D. was a Methodist medical missionary who operated a mission hospital in Kapanga, Zaire from 1960 with his wife, Lena Eschtruth.

In early 1977 Soviet- and Cuban-directed mercenaries invaded Zaire from Angola in the Shaba I invasion. With a number of other missionaries and aid workers in the Kapanga region, Glen and Lena were placed under house arrest by the invaders. When Zairian forces, with Western assistance, successfully repelled the invasion, Glen, on or about 15 April 1977, was seized by the mercenaries as they evacuated Kapanga, and his body was found in a shallow grave not far from Kapanga. Eschtruth was the only American to be killed in the course of the invasion.