Alex Mason

**Alex Mason** (3 June 1933-20 December 1989) was an American CIA agent and former Marine Captain in the United States Marine Corps. He is known for his undercover work for the CIA during the 1960's-1980's. In 1989 he was shot and killed after being mistaken for Raul Menendez.

## Biography

#### Early Life

Alex Mason was born on June 3, 1933 in Fairbanks, Alaska as a youth he supported anti communist movements and hunting animals in the Alaska wilderness with his father. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corp at a young age. At the age of 20 he won a Wimbledon Cup for marksmanship in 1953.

### Military Career

During the early 1950's, Mason served as an infantryman and later a Force Recon Marine in Korea. In 1958 he was recruited into SAD/SOG after having s successful military career. Mason became an operative for the CIA during the Cold War and this is where he befriended a fellow marine, Frank Woods.

#### Bay of Pigs Invasion

In 1961, Mason was recruited into a CIA assassination squad of 40 men that had been tasked with killing Fidel Castro. In this unit were Mason's friends, Woods and another man named Joseph Bowman. Eventually, Mason killed who he thought was Castro but it was a body double. Mason and his men attempted to escape but Mason was captured and handed over to Russian general, Nikita Dragovich.

#### Vorkuta

Eventually, Mason was imprisoned at a gulag in Vorkuta, Russia. While there, Dragovich had former Nazi scientist, Friedrich Steiner and Lev Kravchenko brainwash Mason and programmed him to be a Russian sleeper agent in hopes of having him assassinate the president of the United States. However, a man named Viktor Reznov interfered with his brainwashing and programmed him to kill Steiner instead. After six weeks he was put into the labor camp where he met Reznov and the two became fast friends. On October 6, 1968, Reznov organized a massive prisoner uprising. Mason was able to escape back to America but Reznov was killed during the escape, with Mason never knowing he was brainwashed.

#### Return to America

Shortly after returning to America, Mason's mother died and Mason failed to say goodbye to her, leaving him unpopular in his family. Shortly after returning as well, Mason was taken to the Pentagon in Washington D.C. alongside, Jason Hudson and met with Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. On November 17, 1963, Mason and his team infiltrated a Soviet Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

#### Vietnam

In 1968, Mason joined the SOG led by Woods and was deployed to Vietnam to find information on Soviet activity in the area. In Hue City they attempted to pick up a Soviet defector who had important information on the brainwashing practices including Reznov whom Mason had thought was alive the whole time but had in fact died in Vorkuta years earlier. While flying over Communist territory, Mason's helicopter was shot down and Mason barely escaped alive. Intel retrieved led to the discovery of a downed Soviet plane carrying a chemical weapon known as Nova 6. Upon arriving at the plane the group was met with hostility and a large fire fight broke out with the group being taken hostage afterward. While imprisoned they were forced to play Russian roulette but managed to kill their captors and escape but at the cost of Bowman's life. Mason was attacked by Lev Kravchenko but Kravchenko was tackled by Woods, falling out a large window and exploding, with Woods surviving. Eventually, Mason located Steiner and watched what he thought was Reznov shoot him but it was in fact him who shot Steiner.

#### Apprehension

Mason was captured by Hudon who interrogated him ruthlessly due to the fact that because of Steiner's death, Mason was the only link for information about a suspected Russian sleeper agent attack in America. After freeing himself from his restraints, Mason had an epiphany, remembering a ship called the "Rusalka" from years previous which lead to an all out attack on the vessel that resulted in the death of Dragovich by Mason's hand and the crisis was averted.

#### Berlin

In 1976, Mason was sent to Berlin, Germany to acquire intel on Soviet activity. Mason was tasked with capturing a KGB Colonel named Mikhail Belov for interrogation. Belov escaped, Mason's capture attempt and fled where he eventually attacked Mason and was killed. In 1978, Mason was declared a threat to national security after he chose to chase an unknown lead, along with Hudson and Weaver. It was around this time he got married and had a son named David.

#### Return to the CIA and the Hunt for Perseus

In 1976, he was sent to East Berlin to capture a KGB colonel, Mikhail Belov. By 1981, Mason had returned to the CIA with Woods, Hudson, and two other men, Russell Adler and a man known as "Bell". They were assigned to capture or kill two known terrorists, Qasim Javadi and Arash Kadivar, although they only killed Kadivar. They then went to Europe to track down a Soviet terrorist known as Perseus, successfully saving the world from a nuclear threat but failing to capture Perseus. In 1986, Mason returned to the CIA where he helped assist, General Jonas Savimbi during the Angolan Civil War. With intel from Savimbi, Mason was able to locate Woods who had gone missing previously and was eventually rescued, barely alive by Mason. While escaping with Woods, Mason stumbled upon a radio station where he encountered Raul Menendez but after a short struggle, the radio was destroyed and Menendez pulled the pin on a grenade before Mason shot him in the face and lept from the building as it exploded. Mason then ran for several miles from Cuban soldiers with Woods and Hudson before they were rescued by Savimbi. In September 1986, Woods and Mason and Hudson went to Afghanistan to retrieve intel on Menendez' location who had survived the shooting. During their time there they were helped by Tian Zhao and his Chinese forces to aid in combat to the Mujahideen. During a battle, Mason encountered Lev Kravchenko who had also survived the explosion but he was captured and interrogated before he was killed. During the 1980's, they asked the dictator of Panama, Mauel Noriega to help capture Menendez who captured him but betrayed them and set Menendez free. Mason, Woods, and Hudson fought through Menendez; men and eventually attempted to kill him but ended up killing his sister.

#### Operation Just Cause

On December 19, 1989, Mason, Woods, and Mark McKnight to discuss plans for the invasion of Panama to capture Noriega. The next day he was captured but it was revealed to have been part of a plan by Menendez and Mason and his men were captured with Mason being shot accidentally, Woods being shot in the legs with a shotgun, and Hudson being brutally killed.

## Death

On December 20, 1989, Mason was shot in the head with a sniper rifle as Noriega had placed a captured Mason in Menendez' place, causing Woods to accidentally shoot and kill him. David, Alex's son used his father's death to further motivate him during his military career.

## Gallery

Mason's graveMason in 1986Mason in the 1960sWoods and Mason in 1981Mason in 1981Mason in Panama, December 1989