Robert C. Ode Diary
Release

The voice came over the Algerian plane's speaker: "You are now leaving Iranian air space!" What a cheer went up from the American hostages on the plane! This was the moment for which we had waited 444 days. Now we knew we were really free! Even though we had been told by the Iranian terrorists that we were being set free, I'm sure all of the hostages didn't really feel that we were on our way to freedom until we actually were out of Iran. So much still could go wrong in the process of obtaining our freedom...but the confirmation that we were actually out of Iran and the Ayatollah Khomeini's jurisdiction made us finally realize that our ordeal was over! What a magnificent feeling! We were on our way at last! We were going home!

For months it seemed that nothing was ever really going to happen but then we realized that progress was being made to reach an agreement to release us, even though the terrorists gave us little news or hope in that regard, except for their usual vague hints that "something would happen soon"..."we would be released soon", etc.

On January 19, 1981 I was taken from my room which I was occupying with five other hostages, Bill Belk and Jerry Miele of the State Department; John Graves of the International Communications Agency; Colonel Thomas Schaeffer, U.S. Air Force who had been the U.S . Defense Attache prior to the takeover of the Embassy; and Donald Hohman, a U.S. Army Medical Specialist who had been sent to Iran to head the embassy Medical Unit until such time as the State Department would send a qualified State Department Nurse for permanent duty.

Ahmad, who I thoroughly detested and I always referred to as "Shovelface" because of his rather flat facial structure was one of the terrorist-supervisors who had control of the "minor league" terrorist guards who controlled us on a daily basis. "Shovelface" spoke English well and, with a newspaper before him, informed me that "some" of the hostages were to be released that evening and flown to Wiesbaden, Germany and that I was "one of the candidates"! While I couldn't seriously believe that our government would permit or accept the release of some, but not all, of the hostages, the thought raced through my mind..."If I am one of the 'candidates'--how do I win this election?"

The next thing I was taken to another room where I was seated before one of the women terrorists...a young woman gowned in the usual black chador who had interviewed me on previous occasions. It was my understanding that she had spent several years of her youth as a resident of Philadelphia where she attended school and learned to speak English like an American. In spite of her long residence in the United States she was rabidly anti-American! Perhaps living in Philadelphia makes one that way! I don't know. Since she spoke English so well I later learned that she had appeared frequently on Iranian propaganda TV broadcasts to the United States using the name of "Mary" and was well-known to American TV viewers who were following the hostage situation. Several TV cameras were focused on us and Mary asked me to describe my daily activities while being held hostage. I related how I did calisthenics each morning; then following breakfast I would pursue my daily regimen-pacing rapidly across my room for approximately 1200 times to equate two miles of walking; write letters to my wife, other relatives and friends; read, play Scrabble and other games with other hostages in my room, and study Spanish. Mary queried me as to whether I had been well treated to which I replied, "There was much room for improvement in our treatment" Then she asked me whether I felt there was any justification for having been taken hostage. I replied, "There was absolutely no justification...there never was." With that, Mary said, "The interview is over!"

[The hostages were set free on January 21, 1981. Robert Ode wanted this diary made public and donated it to the federal government. In a June 19, 1980 entry, he wrote:] "I commented that the Iranians have continued to provoke us into any such actions that we might deem appropriate and that would have no one but themselves to blame, but that I was confident that Carter would not resort to such action anyway. Then later in the day Hohman, Queen and I were discussing the present situation and both Hohman and I commented that we had no use for any of the students engaged in this matter and that we would do everything in our power to bring to the attention of the American people what had gone on here and would do everything in our power to assure that the Iranians were punished for their actions, such as by a complete embargo of goods to their country, etc."