I was there......

I learned very quickly the definition of a "hardship post" when my first assignment after MSG school was at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. I arrived in Tehran on 7 December 1978 and although the Revolution had not started yet, tensions in the city were high. Martial law was in effect and a curfew was set at 2100hrs. Any person on the streets after 2100hrs was subject to a confrontation with the Iranian army who patrolled the streets.

Myself and six other Marines arrived at Tehran airport at about 2000hrs. Marines from the Embassy were there to meet us but had to leave to beat curfew. The seven of us made it through customs just before 2100hrs. We were instructed to take these special taxis that were allowed to travel the streets after curfew. It really hadn't dawned on us what we were getting our selves into by traveling the streets during Martial Law. We were stopped twice on the way to the Embassy. Each time we had H&K G3 automatic rifles stuck in our chest and had to show our American passports before we were allowed to proceed.

A conflict was taking place in Iran between the Shah elected Prime Minister Bahktiar and exiled religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini. The revolution began the day after the army attacked the Doshan Tappen Air force base at Farahabad on the morning of 10 February 1979. Iranian Air force cadets were staging an anti and pro Khomeini demonstration when the Iranian Army was called in to restore order. Several people were rumored killed.

The next morning thousands of Iranian people rushed out to the Airforce base, stormed the gates, and seized thousands of automatic weapons and grenades. It was a terrifying sight to see trucks and cars, loaded with people carrying guns, driving down the street past the United States Embassy. All yelling "Yankee go home".

The Marines at the Embassy handled the situation with a professional attitude as our mission was clearly defined "protect American interests and classified material abroad". This was the first time in my career in the Marines where I had been subject to this negative hostility towards Americans. It was an education in itself and I learned alot about myself. I learned to handle stress. I was able to define my responsibility as an NCO as I was a Sergeant at the time and had about ten Marines under my direction. I learned as much about the security of the Embassy as possible. Including the location of all the fire and intruder alarms, studying emergency and evacuation plans and offering suggestions on how to improve these plans as well as better improving security at the Embassy.

When I arrived in Tehran we had only thirteen poststanders ( It would eventually increase to twenty) and the Embassy had additional protection of about 150-200 Iranian soldiers and security police. In addition to manning our normal posts we patrolled the Embassy grounds to check the gates and walls as well as ensure that the Iranian soldier was awake on his post as they had a tendency to sleep on post.

When the Shah of Iran left the country and Khomeini arrived from Paris, relations between the Khomeini dictatorship and the American government were strained even more as anti-americanism increased to the point where the Iranian army was forced to leave the American Embassy grounds or face severe punishment from higher military authority. With their departure, security of the Embassy and grounds was left to the Marine Detachment. Posts were set up around the perimeter, on top of the walls, at the different gates, as strictly surveillance posts to watch the streets. It was not unusual to stand post on the perimeter for 24 hours without a break.

On the morning of February 14 1979, I was posted at the main gate along with two other marines, Cpl Motten and Cpl Avery, and I stepped up to the gate and noticed a police officer directing traffic away from the Embassy. About that time, we heard gunfire and radio reports that there were armed men on top of the walls coming into the complex. Permission was asked five times to throw gas. Permission was finally granted from Ambassador Sullivan. But we realized that gas wouldn't help against armed attackers. Since we hadn't encountered any of the attackers at our post we threw tear gas over the wall into the street where we could hear alot of people yelling and running about. Then something happened that really blew my mind and made me realize that we weren't dealing with the army, but amateurs. Somebody threw a Molotov cocktail at me and it broke at my boots. I looked down and saw the broken glass, the liquid, and the cloth. The idiot forgot to light it!

After we had exausted our supply of tear gas cannisters, it was time to move out and attempt to get back inside the Chancery. So we gathered up our #9 skeetshot ammunition for our shotguns, and proceeded deeper inside the compound around to the northside of the Chancery to a parking area for the staff where we took cover. At this time we experienced our first sniper fire coming from a eight story school located across the motorpool area on the southwest corner of the compound. At this point the attack had been in operation for about 20 minutes and the Marines were requesting permission to fire, only to realize that it was a hopeless request because our shotguns, with the #9 skeet, wouldn't do us any good against snipers. (Man, what I would have given for an M16 at this point!)

Ambassador Sullivan finally gave us permission to fire if our lives were in danger. Well, our lives were in danger but we really hadn't seen the enemy until we got around to the entrance of the Chancery. And the enemy we did see were too far away.

Once we got around the parked cars we discovered a couple embassy employees hiding behind the cars and we helped them inside the Chancery. We did get off a couple rounds of cover fire as we were knocking on the door to get in. Once inside we took cover along with about 30 other people. Radio transmission revealed that two Marines were trapped inside the Ambassadors residence. So two Marines and a security officer grabbed weapons and were about to exit out thru the east entrance when the door was bombarded with machine gun fire. The two inch thick door was riddled full of holes and any attempt to exit through that door was avoided.

When the attackers came over the wall it was the Marines responsibility to keep them away from the Chancery to give Embassy employees more time to destroy classified material. Our emergency and evacuation plan was that once we were inside the Chancery we were to make our way up to the top floor and gut the three lower floors with tear gas. Once upstairs we made our way to the communications vault where people were still destroying classified material. Within an hour the attackers entered the building and walked straight into the gas. When they made it up to the third floor, they all had tears in their eyes from sucking tear gas. Under the direction of Ambassador William Sullivan, the Marines were ordered to drop our weapons inside an office adjacent to the Ambassadors suite and to give up without a fight. That decision probably saved alot of lives, including the Marines.

After we had been frisked by the Iranian attackers we were led downstairs, through all the teargas that we had dispensed earlier (now it was white powder covering everything. The Marines did a good job throwing those gas grenades everywhere)to the basement and outside to the motorpool area. Once outside we were lined up against a wall and met by 30 photographers and reporters all taking photo's and running around. But the most frightening sight was that directly behind the photographers was a line of gunmen all armed with rifles and AK-47's in a firing squad formation. My thoughts at that time were that they were going to move the press to the side and aim in. Thankfully, a spokesman for Khomeini had arrived and ordered the attackers to leave the area. So, with their weapons in hand, the attackers boarded buses and departed the US Embassy compound and probably went to another building in the city and shot it up as well.

Meanwhile, we were all escorted to the Ambassadors residence for a couple of hours and then we were allowed to move over to the embassy restaurant to eat and relax and comfort each other. It was pretty wild.

After the takeover of the Embassy and up to the time the marines were actually evacuated, our responsibilities included assisting americans preparing to leave the country, as Pan American Airlines volunteered to fly 747's into Tehran and help evacuate over 7000 americans still in Tehran, as well as keeping an eye on our captives who enjoyed going around shooting up the Embassy or ransacking the Americans living quarters.

All of the original 20 marines were evacuated and sent back to the states for debriefing and eventually sent out to another post. This webmaster chose to move on to Geneva Switzerland where I served for two years. Later on in 1979, as relations between the United States and Iran improved, 13 other marines were sent back to Tehran to stand post at the gates of the US Embassy. Those same marines, along with about 39 other Americans were taken hostage once again in November 1979 and were held captive for over 14 months before they were released. That was about 14 months too long, in my opinion, as we had an administration that didn't have the guts to send the US Marines, the Navy Seals teams, or another elite force, over there to get them back. Instead they sent an ill-conceived joint military task force over to the Iranian desert and that was where it ended. In the desert!!!