Who accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan on his trip to Guyana in November 1978?

There are three answers to this question, since there were three legs of his trip:

• The people who accompanied Ryan to Guyana on November 14, 1978:

Two congressional staff members– Legislative Counsel Jackie Speier from his office, and Foreign Affairs James Schollaert – made up Mr. Ryan’s official entourage. In addition, nine newspeople flew with Mr. Ryan on his plane, including: Tim Reiterman and Greg Robinson of The San Francisco Examiner; Ron Javers of The San Francisco Chronicle; Charles Krause of The Washington Post; producer Bob Flick, cameraman Bob Brown, soundman Steve Sung, and reporter Don Harris, all from NBC; and freelance writer Gordon Lindsay, who was working on the story for The National Enquirer.

Several members of the Temple’s oppositional group, the Concerned Relatives, also flew down, but were not part of the official party. They included: Tim and Grace Stoen; Howard and Beverly Oliver; Steve and Anthony Katsaris; Clare Bouquet; Jim Cobb; Wayne Pietila; Bonnie Thielmann; Sherwin Harris; Nadyne Houston; Mickey Touchette; and Carol Boyd.

• Those who went with Ryan to Jonestown on November 17:

Ryan staffer Jackie Speier and all nine members of the media accompanied him, although Gordon Lindsay was not allowed into Jonestown once they arrived at the Port Kaituma airstrip. Four Concerned Relatives – Beverly Oliver, Anthony Katsaris, Jim Cobb, and Carol Boyd – also flew in with Ryan.

Two Temple attorneys – Mark Lane and Charles Garry – and Richard Dwyer, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, filled the remaining seats in the plane that flew to Port Kaituma. Neville Annibourne, an information officer, represented the Guyana government.

• There were 16 Jonestown residents who left with Ryan: Brenda, Gerald, Tracy, Dale, Edith and Patricia Parks; Juanita, Tom, Edith, Teena, and James Bogue; Harold Cordell; Chris O’Neal; Monica Bagby; Vernon Gosney; and Larry  Layton.

It should be noted that members of the Simon family also wanted to leave with Ryan. Because there wasn’t room on the planes for any extra people, and because the Simon family was not unified in their decision to go, Ryan persuaded them to stay behind and promised he would be back the next day to escort out however many of the family members wanted to go. None of the Simons in Jonestown that day survived.

Of those who had traveled to Port Kaituma with Ryan, the two Temple attorneys – Lane and Garry – remained behind in Jonestown. Both survived.