Former hostage speaks out
Kiowa man spent 444 days in captivity


Sam Lewin 8/2/2004

The spate of kidnappings in Iraq brings back bitter memories for one American Indian man.

Frederick "Rick" Kupke was one of 52 Americans held hostage in Iran from 1979 to 1981, during the Iran Hostage Crisis. He was working at the State Department when militants opposed to the Shah of Iran stormed into the U.S. Embassy on November 4, 1979.

A former resident of Lawton and a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, Kupke suddenly found himself in the middle of a revolution.

“ As the embassy was bring overrun, and [the militants] were pouring in through the windows, I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was like a movie-but the reality hit pretty soon. I remember thinking that this usually happens to someone else,” Kupke tells the Native American Times.

Kupke was on the second floor when the embassy was invaded, and office workers barricaded an adjoining door with a sofa. Chaos reigned.

“ I was handing out gas masks and trying to calm down some of the ladies who were crying,” he recalls.

Kupke sent a telegram to Washington informing them of the takeover. To this day it is the last official telegram ever sent out from the embassy. It was a call for help, but several hours later embassy workers were told that the cavalry was not coming.

“It gave me a sinking feeling but I still did not want to surrender. My idea was to not surrender under any circumstances and force Uncle Sam to take action,” he said. “ It was becoming apparent that we were on our own. This young marine and I were looking at guns on the floor and I said maybe we should hide them because I didn’t want to get shot with my own gun.”

From a closed circuit camera Kupke was able to watch workers on the first floor give up.

“ I could see them move the sofa and a bunch of bearded guys in fatigues came in and they started pushing people around. We stayed inside and kept destroying documents,” he said.

Kupke, a Vietnam Veteran who served in the Air Force, later grabbed a supply of guns and made his way to the embassy roof.

“ I thought I would make my stand there.”

Some time passed and he peeked through a door that looked down into the building. Not seeing anyone, he climbed down a ladder to the second floor. In front of him were two Iranian revolutionaries. They had their backs to him.

“ I came up behind them and said I was American. I put up my hands and one of them made a fist and hauled off and socked me,” Kupke said.

He was then kicked and pushed by several groups of people. At one point he was smacked with a club and lost consciousness. When he came to he was questioned at gunpoint and had a knife pressed against his face. Kupke said the Iranians kept trying to get him to admit he was a CIA agent. Another revolutionary later took him to where the other hostages were being held. He spent the next three days tied to an armchair while blindfolded.

The days and months passed. Kupke says some of his captors were brutal and some were relatively kind. Don’t get him wrong. He never fell for the “Stockholm Syndrome,” the phenomenon where hostages identify with their captors.

“ I didn’t find that happening to me because I already knew what it was. I just used good, common sense. I let these people know that I was a person just like they were. I think there was one hostage who unfortunately got caught up in that, but I never spent much time with him.”

The world knows the rest of the story: the failed rescue attempt and the freeing of the hostages when Ronald Reagan took office. Kupke returned home where then- Indiana Governor Robert Orr gave him the Sagamore of the Wabash Award. He also attended a Pow Wow and was given an honorary Kiowa name that literally means “He who is victorious.”

Now 57 and with two sons, Kupke watches the current events unfold in Iraq. A chill runs through his spine when he sees hostages abducted and murdered.

“ I know the feeling they have. Terrorism has progressed to the point where they kidnap someone and kill him. With us-we were used as bargaining chips.”

Kupke credits his grandmother with helping him survive his 444 days of hell in Tehran.

“ She was a very strong willed person. I discovered at an early point that I had to have a plan to survive and I know I got that from my Indian grandmother. At that point she had passed away and I wanted her to be proud of me,” he states.

Kupke was recently interviewed for a book on the hostage crisis, and he is also part of an upcoming documentary on the Discovery Channel. He is available for speaking engagements and says he would love to make appearances in Oklahoma. He can be reached through his website site at www.rickkupke.com