SAS Rescue Ends Iran Embassy SiegeOn this day in 1980, millions of people watched the end of the Iranian embassy siege on live television as bank holiday entertainment on all three channels was interrupted to show the real life drama unfold. Five Iranian gunmen were killed and one was arrested following a dramatic raid by SAS commandos. Nineteen hostages were set free but one died and two were injured in cross-fire. The siege had begun five days earlier when six gunmen had taken over the Iranian embassy in Kensington. The aim of the gunmen was to secure the release of 91 political prisoners held in Iran. They were members of a dissident Iranian group opposed to Ayatollah Khomeine, Iran's religious leader.
One of the hostages was PC Trevor Lock, an embassy police guard. PC Lock tackled the leader of the gunmen, known as Salim, and saved the life of an SAS soldier. He was awarded the George Medal for his actions. The one surviving gunman, Fowzi Nejad, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Iranian government approved the use of force. President Bani-Sadr announced the SAS raid as a victory saying, "We did not surrender, we became victorious." Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher congratulated the SAS troops on a successful mission, codenamed Operation Nimrod. The operation secured the future of the SAS. It had previously been under threat of disbandment.
Bobby Sands Dies In Prison
Bobby Sands, the 27 year old republican hunger striker,was pronounced dead by medical staff at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. Sands had served five years of a 14-year sentence for possessing a gun. It was the second time Sands had been on hunger strike. The first was in 1980 when a number of prisoners in the Maze prison were demanding political status for republican prisoners. Sands had refused to eat for 66 days. He became the first of 10 republican prisoners to die after hunger strikes. More than 60 civilians, police and soldiers also died in violence directly attributable to the hunger strikes.
Shepard Becomes First US Astronaut
Commander Alan Shepard became the first American in space after splashing his space capsule down in the Atlantic. Three weeks earlier Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space. Commander Shepard, 37 years old, was launched into sub-orbital flight from Cape Canaveral in Florida in a Mercury 3 capsule attached to a Redstone rocket. His flight lasted 15 minutes, by which time he had travelled 115 miles into space. His first words when picked up were: "Boy, what a ride!" Shepard was congratulated by President Kennedy a few minutes after he was flown to the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain.
