Remembering the story of the Iranian hostage – The Oxford Eagle

An Iranian royal leader named Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi came to power in 1953. About 80% returned to U.S. and British control.With a steady supply of American-made weapons, the Shah and his secret police, SAVAK, were led by an elderly Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He brutally suppressed opposition to his rule, including the 1963 uprising.

Finally, in 1979, a popular revolution broke out in Iran, ousting the Shah from power and replacing him with an Islamist government designed by Khomeini. US President Jimmy Carter, against the advice of some of his advisers, refused to take action in favor of the Shah, but he also failed to reach out to his opponents. After it was announced in October that the Shah, now in exile in Mexico, was suffering from advanced cancer, Carter reluctantly allowed him into the United States for treatment on humanitarian grounds. decided to

The decision sparked a violent storm of anti-American sentiment in Iran, leading to students besieging the US Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. President Carter. After some time, the students released 13 of his 66 hostages. Most of the hostages were diplomats and embassy employees. Most of those released were women, African-Americans, and non-U.S. citizens who (according to Khomeini) were already subject to “the oppression of American society.” Later, another hostage was released due to health problems, but by midsummer 1980 he had 52 men and women in custody.

President Carter made freeing the hostages in Iran a top priority for his administration, but neither diplomatic overtures nor economic sanctions swayed the Ayatollah and his supporters. In April 1980, a military operation involving Elite Rescue and his team fell through after a helicopter crashed into a transport plane, killing eight servicemen. Amid constant media coverage, Carter’s failure to resolve the hostage crisis doomed the 1980 re-election campaign as Republican challenger Ronald Reagan profited from Carter’s increasingly weakened state. In November 1980, Reagan won a landslide victory.

Meanwhile, embassy hostages lived in deep anxiety and fear, subjected to prolonged confinement, beatings, physical harm and threats of execution. Among other things, their captives deprived them of hot and cold water until days before their release. After months of negotiations, the U.S. and Iran agreed to finally release the hostages in his December 1980, but Iran did not make it to the number of Reagan’s inaugural address on January 20, 1981. He showed an enduring hatred of Carter by waiting until minutes later to be released. .

The Iranian hostage crisis brought the United States into direct conflict with militant and political Islam for the first time. It also marked the beginning of the animosity that continues to characterize relations between the United States and Iran to this day. In Tehran, a former embassy building that served as a hostage prison for 444 days is now an Islamic Cultural Center and Museum. Known in Iran as the “den of spies”, it has become a symbol of the Iranian Revolution. On January 27, 1981, hostages landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. There they were greeted by newly elected Vice President George H.W. Bush and a series of dignitaries. A US Navy band played “Tie a Ribbon Around an Old Oak Tree” as the first hostages came down the ramp. Most Americans have been tying yellow ribbons around trees for months, and the song, performed by Tony Orlando and Dawn, has become a mantra for America’s assistance in freeing hostages.

At the time, I was the Director of Human Resources at Marine Corps Headquarters and lived with my family in public housing in Andrews. I learned of the arrival of the hostages the day before and requested them, and I took the day off to witness the event. It was a very moving event that was covered by the world media. I later learned that every Marine had his 30 days of unpaid leave. About a month later, the released Marine hostages returned to headquarters to find out what happened next. The Human Resources Department, where I was a “monitor,” gave Marines three options. Both the former of the first option. Or, wave the pre-requirements along with the first two options and Marine Corps formal school and military professional specializations. One of them, he said, had three Marines come to me and ask them to be assigned to a formal avionics school. All three successfully completed their training and were assigned to operational squadrons of the United States Marine Corps. It was an honor to get to know all these individuals.

Jean Hayes is a retired Marine Corps Sergeant Major, author and historian. Email: rghays47@gmail.com.