Eugene Hasenfus, a former Marine who was a major figure in the 1986 Iran-Contra arms affair after his gunrunning cargo plane was shot down over Nicaragua, died on Nov. 26. He was 84.

According to his obituary, Hasenfus died at his home in Menominee, Michigan, after a nine-year battle with cancer.

Hasenfus was aboard a C-123 plane to drop arms to right-wing rebel forces in Nicaragua, known as Contras, when a missile fired by the country’s leftist Sandinista troops downed the aircraft on Oct. 5, 1986.

He was the only survivor in the aircraft. The pilot, co-pilot and radio operator of the plane died in a jungle in southern Nicaragua. Hasenfus was tasked with packing and dropping the arms.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan authorized the CIA to support the Contras. Congress cut off military assistance to the guerrilla group three years later.

Shortly before the cutoff, top officials in the Reagan administration created a secret supply network to the Contras that was directed by the White House and handled by National Security Council aide, Lt. Col. Oliver North.

The administration also secretly sold arms to the Iranian government, hoping that Tehran would use its influence to secure the release of American hostages held in Lebanon.

The plans in Nicaragua were revealed after the plane was shot down. Hasenfus parachuted into the jungle and eluded authorities for more than 24 hours before he was captured.

Hasenfus was charged with several crimes, including terrorism.

He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison but was freed in December 1986 by Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader (and now Nicaragua’s president), who called it an act of goodwill toward the United States.

Fourteen members from the Reagan administration, the CIA and the private network funding the Contras faced criminal charges. Among them were two of Reagan’s national security advisers, Robert C. McFarlane and his successor, John M. Poindexter; and North.

The only person who went to prison was Thomas G. Clines, a retired CIA officer who served 16 months in prison on tax evasion charges.

Hasenfus was born on Jan. 22, 1941, in Marinette, Wisconsin. A star football player, Hasenfus served in the Marines during the Vietnam War and other conflicts. He later continued his career in avaition, “utilizing his skills as a rigger and cargo master on various classified air transport operations across the globe.”

Hasenfus filed an unsuccessful lawsuit in 1988 seeking $135 million in damages against two men and two companies linked to the arms deals.

According to his obituary, Hasenfus sought a “life of quiet normalcy” from media scrutiny.

“He settled back into his life in Wisconsin, where he focused on his family and career as an ironworker,” the obituary stated. “He carried the weight of his historic experience with quiet dignity and resilience, rarely speaking publicly about the events that defined a major period of the Cold War.”

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