Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Col. Thomas Schaefer, United States Air Force pilot.(Photo: Mark Schaefer)
PHOENIX — Retired Air Force Col. Thomas Schaefer, who was one of the 52 American hostages held for 444 days in Iran, died this week in Scottsdale. He was 85.
David Schaefer said Friday that his father died of congestive heart failure Tuesday at a hospice in Scottsdale.
Schaefer was known to the public as a hero, speaking to more than a quarter-million students and adults about his hostage experience and ways to cope with adversity. He was held hostage in Tehran from Nov. 4, 1979, to Jan. 20, 1981, after a group of Iranian students took over the U.S. Embassy.
But Schaefer's friends and family viewed him through a more personal lens.
USA TODAY
Iran seeks money from U.S. over 1953 coup that empowered American-backed shah
Another of Schaefer's sons, Mark, said he was a remarkable father.
When he was brought to hospice for his heart disease, Schaefer was asked to fill out a survey about how he would like to be remembered. He provided an answer that was short and sweet, saying he just wanted to be remembered "for being a good guy," Mark Schaefer said.
"We received some notes from other men who were hostages with him, and that was kind of the theme of the notes: that he was a good guy and that he was a person of integrity and loyalty to his friends and colleagues," Schaefer said. "When he was faced with difficult circumstances, he acted with integrity and he did the right thing."
Thomas Schaefer was a military attache at the U.S. embassy in Tehran when militants seized the compound in 1979.
From the first day of the takeover, Schaefer was singled out for special attention. As the ranking U.S. military officer in the embassy, he was accused of running a "nest of spies."
In this Dec. 25, 1980, file photo, four American hostages, from left, William Belk of Columbia, S. C.; Thomas Schaefer of Tacoma, Wash.; Donald Hohman of West Sacramento, Calif.; and John Craves of Reston, Va., listen to the latest demands for their release in Iran. Schaefer, a retired Air Force colonel who was the ranking military officer among the 52 Americans held hostage in Tehran, Iran for 444 days before being released in 1981, has died Tuesday, May 31, 2016, of congestive heart failure Tuesday at a hospice in Scottsdale. Ariz., his sone David Schaefer said Friday, June 3, 2016. He was 85.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: AP file)
His captors paraded him blindfolded in front of television cameras and threatened repeatedly to put him on trial and execute him.
He spent 150 days in solitary confinement and began his captivity enduring 14 days of relentless interrogation in a freezing prison cell with damp floors and only a thin blanket for warmth.
"I could see my breath the entire time," Schaefer said in a 2004 interview. "They were breaking me down both physically and mentally. I could feel myself losing it."
Schaefer was among the last hostages who were released on Jan. 20, 1981. Just before the aircraft bringing the hostages home entered U.S. airspace, the co-pilot invited Schaefer to take his seat in the cockpit.
Schaefer retired from the Air Force less than two years later and was a professional speaker for decades.
USA TODAY
Canadian envoy who hid Americans during Iran hostage crisis dies
Schaefer loved the outdoors, and that was a big part of what he loved about Arizona, where he lived the last 30 years of his life. As an Air Force pilot, he knew the stars well and loved to sit and observe the clear night skies, pointing out constellations to his family.
He instilled that love and appreciation of nature in his sons and grandchildren by taking them out body surfing, hiking and looking at the stars. This became a blessing for Mark Thomas, as he used his love for nature to help him cope while his father was being held hostage.
"You have to find a way as a loved one to cope with that, and one of the ways I did that was I would rewalk hikes that he took me on as a kid, in Yosemite in particular. We both loved that park," Mark Schaefer said. "I tried to draw it out and remember the hike in some detail. And interestingly, when my dad came out, I told him that I had done this often. He looked at me and said, 'I did the same thing.' "
Asked if he believed his father was a hero, Schaefer said that wasn't the word he would choose. He had never heard his father refer to himself as a hero or even suggest that he wanted to be viewed as one. He pointed back to his father’s request in the hospice questionnaire.
USA TODAY
Iran hostages may finally get compensation for '70s ordeal
"I know him as a good guy and a great father, and I'll leave it at that."
Born in Rochester, N.Y., Thomas Schaefer was a bomber pilot for the Air Force — first flying B-47s and then B-52s before he switched to administrative positions.
Schaefer is survived by his wife of 63 years, Anita; two sons, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
There will be a service at Arlington National Cemetery this fall.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed