206: Part 3: Ken Kraus – The hardest battle wasn’t physical, it was psychological... 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

Game of Crimes

True Crime

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this powerful episode of Game of Crimes, Murph continues the riveting story of Ken Kraus, a U.S. Marine, Iran hostage survivor, and Navy Commendation and Purple Heart recipient. After surviving torture and captivity during the 1979 Tehran Embassy siege, Ken opens up about what happened next—his medical evacuation to Germany, the complex political aftermath, and the overwhelming media attention when he returned to the United States.

But the hardest battle wasn’t physical—it was psychological.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone. A quick note about this week's episodes. Our guest is Ken Krauss, a former U.S. Marine,
0:05.5	who was kidnapped, tortured, and sentenced to death in Iran in 1979. Now, obviously, he survived,
0:12.4	or we wouldn't have him as a guest, right? But Ken's going to discuss his ordeal during that time,
0:17.4	which includes gun battles, beatings, torture, murder, and the resultant PTSD he experienced.
0:23.9	Some might find portions of this three-part interview disturbing. Most of you won't, but I just
0:28.9	want to give you a heads up just in case. Ken Krause is a true American patriot and hero, and I'm
0:34.3	honored to host him on The Game of Crimes. Hope y'all enjoy this week's episodes.
0:39.2	And basically, that's why I named the book or title of the book, a marine that
0:45.2	endures hell, because it was hell.
0:47.6	It really was.
0:48.3	You'll have to agree with that.
0:50.6	Oh, yeah.
0:51.2	It's just to go through hell, it's endure it.
0:54.0	You go through the fire. You get, you get cleansed.
0:57.0	You learn just realizes how low you can really go in the depression and you can get beat up to a point where you're totally exasperated and there's absolutely nothing left.
1:08.0	And that's when I'm not being religious anymore than I'm being political, as that you find
1:12.7	that you have your faith,
1:14.7	your personal faith in
1:16.3	God Almighty. And it
1:18.5	changes your life and changes your world.
1:20.7	It does. And it was overwhelming.
1:22.7	I mean, All right, everybody.
	...

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