Tehran, YJC. Photo called American Cemetery portrays the artist’s recreation of the Operation Eagle Claw.
American Cemetery is the name of this photo. It is a retelling of the Operation Eagle Claw which was overwhelmed by sandstorm in the Iranian desert of Tabas in 1980 to become an international debacle.
Captain Gregory Ball relates the story as follows:
On February 14, 1979, armed Iranians stormed the [U.S.] embassy
and took 102 Americans hostage. After the Ayatollah's forces intervened and
returned control of the embassy to the United States, they allowed the USAF to
fly one final C-141 evacuation mission. After that, the U.S. State Department
chartered 13 commercial Boeing 747 airliners, which flew an additional 4,099
people out of the country. By March 1, 1979, the U.S. government decided to
evacuate all of its citizens except for a minimal staff at the embassy and at
several corporate headquarters. Through the rest of the year tensions remained
high and in the autumn the U.S. government allowed the exiled Shah to receive
cancer treatment in the United States. That action angered many Iranians, and
frustration boiled over on November 4, 1979, when Iranians again seized the
embassy, along with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, and took 66 U.S. personnel
hostage. Thirteen hostages were later released, leaving 53 remaining in Iranian
custody. For the remainder of his term, President James E. Carter, Jr., sought
their release through a variety of means. None were successful and he soon
turned to the U.S. military. After considering several options, President
Carter decided to authorize a military rescue operation.
Because the U.S. military had no force ready to conduct such
an operation in an area in which the United States had few bases or resources,
the mission required five months of intensive planning by personnel from all
service branches and the Central Intelligence Agency before receiving the
President's approval. Known as Operation Eagle Claw, it called for three USAF
MC-130s to carry a 118-man assault force from Masirah Island near Oman in the
Persian Gulf to a remote spot 200 miles southeast of Tehran, code-named Desert
One. Accompanying the MC-130s were three USAF EC-130s which served as fuel
transports. The MC-130s planned to rendezvous with eight RH-53D helicopters
from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. After refueling and loading the assault
team, the helicopters would fly to a location 65 miles from Tehran, where the
assault team would go into hiding. The next night, the team, dependent upon
trusted agents, drivers, and translators, would be picked up and driven the
rest of the way to the embassy compound. After storming the embassy, the team
and the freed hostages would rally at either the embassy compound or a nearby
soccer stadium to be picked up by the helicopter force. The helicopters would
then transport them to Manzariyeh, 35 miles to the south, by that time secured
by a team of U.S. Army Rangers. Once at Manzariyeh USAF C-141 transports would
fly the assault team and hostages out of Iran while the Rangers destroyed the
remaining equipment (including the helicopters) and prepared for their own
aerial departure. An extremely complex operation, Eagle Claw depended on
everything going according to plan. Any deviation could cause the entire
operation to unravel with possibly tragic consequences.
In the weeks before the mission, USAF combat controllers
covertly deployed into Iran to prepare the landing site at Desert One. The
mission began on April 24, 1980, when the first MC-130, carrying the mission
commander and USAF combat controllers, arrived at the landing site. The combat
controllers were tasked with establishing the airstrips and marshalling the
aircraft once they had landed. Soon after the first MC-130 arrived, the plan
began to fall apart. First, a passenger bus approached on a highway bisecting
the landing zone. The advance party was forced to stop the vehicle and detain
its 45 passengers. Soon, a fuel truck came down the highway. When it failed to
stop, the Americans fired a light anti-tank weapon which set the tanker on fire
and lit the surrounding area. Finally, a pickup truck approached but turned
around and departed the area. The assault team commanders, however, decided to
continue with the mission. Soon the other five MC-130s aircraft arrived at
Desert One to wait for the helicopters. The RH-53 helicopters departed the
Nimitz and were en route to Desert One. During the flight, two helicopters
aborted because of flight instrument and mechanical problems while the pilot of
a third helicopter decided to continue on to Desert One despite hydraulic
problems. Soon the remaining six helicopters encountered an unexpected severe
dust storm and proceeded individually to Desert One, arriving nearly an hour
behind schedule.
Once at Desert One, the RH-53 with hydraulic problems could
not be repaired, which left the team with one less helicopter than was required
to carry the assault team and hostages. With just five helicopters available,
the on-scene commander aborted the mission. The plan then shifted to getting
the assault team back on the MC-130s while the helicopters refueled and
returned to the Nimitz. At that point, tragedy struck. One of the helicopter's
rotor blades inadvertently collided with a fuel-laden EC-130. Both aircraft
exploded, killing five airmen on the EC-130 and three marines on the RH-53. The
team commanders ordered the remaining helicopters abandoned and everyone to
board the EC-130s, which soon departed for Masirah Island. With that, Operation
Eagle Claw came to an end. President Carter was notified of the mission's
failure, and the wreckage at Desert One was broadcast to the world by the
Iranian government. In the remaining months of his presidency President Carter
continued to work toward the hostages' release, although the government of Iran
did not do so until the day of President Ronald W. Reagan's inauguration on
January 20, 1981.
A number of significant lessons were learned from Operation Eagle Claw, which led to the establishment of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and its USAF component, the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). The operation also highlighted the necessity of Joint planning and training.
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