‘We leave no American behind’: President Trump details Easter rescue of downed airman

By Morgan Sweeney
The Center Square

The successful Easter rescue of the downed F-15 airman who went missing in Iran was “one of the largest, most complex, most harrowing” combat search and rescue missions “ever attempted by the military,” President Donald Trump told reporters Monday.

Search and rescue missions like this in enemy territory are rare because it’s typically a much greater threat to American forces to attempt a rescue than it is to allow one soldier to go unrecovered. But Trump said he ordered the rescue anyway.

“I ordered the U.S. armed forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home – a risky decision because we could have ended up with 100 dead as opposed to one or two. So, hard decision to make,” Trump said. “But in the United States military we leave no American behind. We don’t do it.”

After an F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran on Friday, the American military was unsure of the locations of its two crew members. The pilot was found and rescued fairly quickly, but the search for the jet’s weapons systems officer went on for nearly 48 hours.

The initial rescue mission that recovered the pilot involved 21 military aircraft. The mission to find the downed weapons systems officer involved 155 aircraft, including 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers and 13 rescue aircraft.

“A lot of it was subterfuge,” Trump said, adding that the military made it look like they were looking in seven different locations.

The officer landed far from the pilot and went higher into the mountains, treated his wounds and transmitted his location to American forces. Though badly wounded, he evaded capture and the rescue mission was completed with no American casualties.