An American hostage during the Iran crisis remembers Jimmy Carter

Of the many who mourn former President Jimmy Carter, not everyone can say he saved their lives.

Rocky Sickman was a 22-year-old U.S. Marine stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, when he and 51 other Americans were taken hostage by Iranian revolutionaries on November 4, 1979.

It defined his life – as it did most of Carter’s presidency.

“For the first 30 days, I’m sitting in this room handcuffed and blindfolded, thinking that the Vietnam War just ended and nobody cares about these thousands of veterans coming home,” the 67-year-old said. “Who will take care of the Iranian hostages?”

He said at the time he wasn’t even sure how much President Carter cared. It was a sentiment echoed by much of the American public. Many blamed Carter for not returning the hostages home for more than a year.

Political historians say one of the reasons Carter won a landslide against Ronald Reagan — and only served one term as president — was because of his handling of the hostage crisis.

Minutes after Regan was sworn in, the hostages were released, although the deal was in the process of Carter’s presidency.

Mr Sickman said Carter deserved eternal admiration for his tireless efforts to bring them home.

“He was a good man who wanted diplomacy. I found out afterwards how involved he was in the case. He knew my parents. He took care of them, met them in DC.”

When Mr. Sickman finally met Carter himself, he was not quite dressed for the occasion.

He laughs: “We met him in pajamas! How can you meet your commander-in-chief dressed like that!”

Rocky was flown with the other hostages to Wiesbaden, Germany, a year after they were taken hostage. The day after they arrived, Carter met them in person.

“It was a very emotional day because he was in the Marines and he said meeting us was the happiest day of his life.”

The meeting was captured in a photo Carter sent to Sickman 10 months after he was kicked out of the White House. It was signed, “To my friend Rocky Sickman.”

But that wasn’t the last time Mr. Zickman saw him. Just 10 years ago, he ran into Carter at a baseball game in Georgia. He ordered the courier to hand the note to the former president.

“He is reading – suddenly stands up, stands up and turns around. I stand up, we wave to each other.’

Like Carter, Mr. Sickman focused on philanthropy. He said he was inspired by the former president to create Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to families of fallen or disabled U.S. military personnel and first responders.

“President Carter was a good Christian, married to his wonderful wife, and continued his life of service. I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good as him, but I hope I can do the same.”

The charity was created in honor of 8 American soldiers who died while rescuing hostages. In 1980, a mission dubbed “Eagle’s Claw” failed catastrophically after three helicopters failed. This was the last straw for Carter politically – although he won the Democratic nomination, he was defeated in the election by Ronald Reagan that year.

But while the Iran hostage crisis would be a dark stain on Carter’s political legacy, Mr. Sickman said he owed Jimmy Carter his life.

“Morning, noon and night, for 444 days, I have never prayed so hard in my life, hoping that God is on our side,” he said.

“But also President Carter kept us alive. He kept us before the world, making sure that people (also) prayed for us.’