1981: an overview

Former hostage

On January 20, the day after Harry Metrinko turned 70, the Metrinkos of Olyphant, Pa., received word that their son Michael, a U.S. embassy political officer in Iran, was on the way home. His 444-day ordeal as one of the 51 Americans held hostage in Iran since November 4, 1979, was over. Michael Metrinko came home to Olyphant on January 28 and was triumphantly welcomed by thousands who lined the streets.

All the news was not good, however. It was learned that Michael had been held in solitary confinement in a windowless five-step-by-five-step cell for the first nine months of his captivity. He said he had been struck on several occasions by his captors, had been handcuffed, blindfolded, subjected to various forms of psychological terror, and interrogated, often for up to seven hours at a time.

Michael had become known as "the forgotten hostage," since it was not until April 14, 1980, that there was confirmation that he was in fact among the hostages.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 27, 1981, No. 52, Vol. LXXXVIII

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