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Kevin Hermony was in a cell in what had been the U.S. embassy in Tehran. He was a captive,

and he hadn't been getting along with the guards very well. In fact, he had been put in solitary

confinement after he tried to escape.

And he hadn't behaved well when an international minister arrived, and the guards knew it.

So when he got a summons from the guard to come to a conference room, he and his hostage

roommate looked at each other. Maybe this is it.

The Iranians who took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 did not treat the hostages well.

They would wake Americans in the middle of the night, place an unloaded gun to their heads, and then click the trigger.

Hostages were beaten. One had three of his teeth broken off at the gum line.

This was the same situation that Hermanning was in.

And then they came to my room one day and said, we have a surprise for you.

I was actually fearful of what that surprise might be.

And then they put me in a room with dozens of TV cameras.

Kevin, your mom is here.

Kevin Hermaning was a Marine, and he was on his way to dinner to mess hall in 1978 when he saw a giant banner inviting him learn more

about the Marine Security Guard program it featured cutouts of Marines in their

uniforms standing in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahan, the Great Wall of China.

And initially, he joins and is assigned to West Germany, and it's pretty cool.

Thinking about skiing at the Alps and everything like that, he's transferred, and his assignment

becomes Iran.

He's there a few months. It's not terrible in the beginning. Starts to study Farsi, you know,

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