[D]

The fall of 1979 was a turbulent period in Iran. The Shah had been deposed by Islamic fundamentalists under the Ayatollah Khomeini, and although diplomatic relations still existed between the United States and Iran, these relations were strained. On November 4, 1979, hundreds of Iranians seized the U.S. embassy and took 66 Americans hostage. For days nothing was known of the hostages' condition until their captors finally released all female and black hostages. Later, one other man was released for medical reasons, leaving 53 Americans captives of the Iranian Moslem fundamentalists.

By spring of 1980, the situation had reached a virtual standstill, with all diplomatic channels apparently exhausted. In the absence of diplomatic options, President Jimmy Carter authorized a secret military operation on April 25, 1980, designed to rescue those remaining American hostages. The plan called for a rendezvous of helicopters and cargo planes at a remote desert site in Iran before attempting the actually rescue of the hostages. However, the mission was aborted when a freak accident caused two of the aircraft to collide. The ensuing explosion and fire claimed the lives of eight American service personnel. Their bodies could not be recovered before the surviving aircraft had to abandon the desert staging area. Shortly thereafter the eight bodies were returned to the United States, but the remaining 53 hostages were not freed until January 20, 1981, 444 days after they had been captured.

A monument dedicated to the memory of those gallant servicemen, who died in the valiant effort to rescue the American hostages, has been erected near the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery. The white stone marker bears a bronze plaque listing the names and ranks of the three Marines and the five airmen. Three of those men -- Maj. Richard Bakke, Maj. Harold Lewis, Jr. and Sgt. Joel Mayo --are now buried at Arlington in a grave marked by a common headstone located about 25 feet from the group memorial.

Peters, James Edward. Arlington National Cemetery: Shrine to America's Heroes. Woodbine House, 2000.

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