From Martyrdom to Movement: The 70-Year Legacy of Operation Auca

Seventy years ago, the violent deaths of five young missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador became a defining moment for modern missions. Their story of sacrifice, rather than ending a mission, ignited a global movement to bring the hope of Jesus Christ to the ends of the Earth. 

In 1956, five missionaries flew deep into he jungle of Ecuador, hoping to share the gospel via sign language with an indigenous tribe called the Waodani, formerly called the Aucas, meaning “savages.” 

Their pilot, Nate Saint, landed on a sandbar near the village to make personal contact. It wasn’t long, however, before the tribe turned violent. 

Operation Auca became a landmark story of martyrdom. 

Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Yougerian, and Pete Fleming were all speared to death by tribesmen. Four of the five bodies were found in a river by a search party.

“I could see he had a big spear here, in his head, backwards,” said Frank Drown, a fellow missionary. 

Gene Jordan, a longtime pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship, the same organization that flew that men to Ecuador, remembers growing up alongside the children of the Martyrs. 

He recalls their story sparking a wildfire in the mission field, and in his own calling. 

“This event, people have called the most significant event in the 20th century – in missions,” Jordan said. “I’ve heard many, many people say that I am in ministry because of that story, because of the dedication of those five men to give up their lives so that others might hear about a God Creator and His Son that came to die for them.” 

While the families suffered a tragic loss, their deaths became a seed that would eventually grow in the hearts of indigenous people groups worldwide. 

“So many people are focused on my grandfather’s death,” said Jaime Saint, grandson of Nate Saint. “Our focus is not his death, but what his death led to, which is the Gospel going down to the Waodani people.”

In a twist only faith could write, the widows and a sister of the Martyrs returned to the same jungle, to finish the work of sharing the gospel. Footage from the field shows the Waodani men responsible for the killings, being baptized by Phil Saint, Nate Saint’s brother, in the same river their bodies were found. 

“And so, when you look at what our mission here on Earth is to do, it’s to make disciples everywhere,” said Jaime. 

Today, Jaime Saint overseas ITEC, the Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center, founded by his father. 

The center provides indigenous groups with healthcare, farming, and mechanical training – along with the gospel. They’ve done trainings in more than 70 countries. Last year, they trained roughly 500 people from 35 to 40 tribes. 

Seventy years later, the legacy is still being written. 

What began in violence became transformed by forgiveness and faith. As Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told CBN News, the work begun on that riverbed still equips believers worldwide.

“There’s no question—these five men have had a tremendous impact on missions. I thank God for their obedience and courage. They were willing to risk all for the sake of the Gospel. I believe their lives have inspired untold numbers of missionaries to go to difficult places over the last 70 years, and I pray their powerful testimony will continue to challenge another generation of Christians to take the hope of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth!”