Special Ops Remembers Eagle Claw

May 12, 2006

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Members of the 353rd Special Operations Group, Kadena AB, Japan, recently honored the eight US service members killed during Operation Eagle Claw—best known as Desert One—the April 24, 1980, failed attempt to rescue American hostages from the American Embassy in Tehran. (Read our 1999 article here.) Col. Raymond Chapman, group commander, told attendees at a base ceremony, “Looking back today, I see that Operation Eagle Claw may have been a tactical failure, but it was a strategic success.” That failed rescue, said Chapman, helped make special operations the force it is today. Following Desert One, the Pentagon created US Special Operations Command.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

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