Now-retired LtCol Paul Needham was captured by the Iranians during the Embassy takeover in 1979, as he recently related as a guest speaker at an event at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

For those that have seen Argo, he was one of the guys locked in the communications vault shredding papers when the building was taken.

He was lined up in a firing squad: 

Spread out up against a wall, Needham said he was shaking uncontrollably and started reciting Psalms 23 to himself. He said he suddenly felt a calmness come over him and knew it was the presence of Christ and immediately stopped shaking. The Iranians chambered a round and took off the safety, yelled “fire” and ejected a round to scare them.

“My faith in God, my family and my country really helped me through my time in captivity,” Needham said. “Knowing that God was with me gave me the strength to handle a lot more. The one thing that cannot be taken away is what is in your mind and your faith. That can never be taken away.”

Read more by LtCol (Ret) Needham.

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