Rodney ‘Rocky’ Sickmann was the featured speaker at Veterans Day prayer service at Assumption in O’Fallon
When Rodney “Rocky” Sickmann entered the Marine Corps, his mother told him: “You make sure you pray, because someday you’re going to need that.”
His faith soon became his lifeline when he was held captive in Iran for 444 days during the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Sickmann shared his story during a Veterans Day prayer service and celebration at Assumption School in O’Fallon on Nov. 7. Sickmann is a parishioner at Assumption, and two grandchildren, third grader Woodson and first grader Rooney, attend the school.
Sickmann grew up in Krakow, attending St. Gertrude Parish with his parents and four siblings. His parents instilled in him three important things: love of God, love of family and love of country, he told the students.
As a 22-year-old Marine staff sergeant, Sickmann was assigned to guard duty at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran. On Nov. 4, 1979, he was among 66 Americans taken hostage in the embassy when Iranian protesters overtook it. Fourteen people were released later that month, leaving 52 hostages for the remainder of the crisis.
“What does freedom mean to you?” he asked the students. “How many of you like to play outside?” Almost everyone raised their hand. He was allowed outside just seven times in the 14 months he was held hostage, he said.
Sickmann spent Thanksgiving 1979 tied to a chair, dreaming of his family’s holiday celebration, complete with turkey and pumpkin pie. He prayed harder than he had ever prayed in his life to have a second chance to live and be with his family, he said.
He described feeling snow on his feet when he walked outside, blindfolded, on the day they were released. He heard the sound of the plane engine that would take them to Germany, then home to the United States. After stops in New York and Washington, D.C., he arrived home to Lambert St. Louis International Airport on Jan. 28, 1981, where he was welcomed by a crowd of about 4,000.
Throughout his time in captivity, St. Gertrude Parish had offered special Masses and Sunday morning Rosaries for him and the other hostages. On the day of his release, Archbishop John. L May asked parishes around the archdiocese to ring the church bells at noon, and a special Mass of thanksgiving was celebrated at the St. Louis Cathedral, according to a Jan. 23 article in the St. Louis Review. St. Gertrude pastor Father Bernard Wilkins celebrated Mass in the Sickmann home just a few hours after President Jimmy Carter announced that a deal had been reached to release the hostages.
For the Mass in the Sickmann home, Father Wilkins said he used readings for Easter “because I thought they were very applicable to the situation,” the article said. Archbishop May celebrated another Mass of thanksgiving at St. Gertrude Parish on Feb. 1.
Sickmann was pleasantly surprised to receive a hero’s welcome back home and hear how people around the world had been following his story, he said. In the mid-1970s, he’d seen Vietnam War veterans return home to little gratitude or care.
He also learned of the eight service members who died during a spring 1980 Joint Special Operations Group attempt to rescue the hostages.
“I can tell you, every morning I wake up and I think of these veterans that gave their life trying to regain my freedom,” he said.
Sickmann married his girlfriend, Jill, just months later — they celebrated their 44th anniversary this year, he said, indicating her sitting in the crowd. He went on to have a long career with Anheuser-Busch and now works with Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to children of fallen and disabled military and first responders.
He encouraged students to go up and thank veterans if they see them in public wearing a veteran ballcap or jacket. And, in turn, it’s important for veterans to share their own stories with family and friends, he said.
“They have to share their story with all the children, so they hear what they have done to help provide us the freedom that we enjoy each and every day, including freedom of religion,” he said. “So I’m honored to be here to be able to do that, especially with my grandchildren. I never thought, 46 years ago when I was taken hostage, fast forward, I would be sitting here speaking to my grandchildren in a grade school. It’s pretty powerful.”
Sickmann’s daughter and son-in-law Chelsea and Kalen Frese attended the prayer service and joined their children and Sickmann for cupcakes with other veteran families afterward.
Veterans Day has always been important to her family because of her father’s experience, Chelsea Frese said. She recalls learning her father’s prisoner of war story when she was in second grade, so it feels poignant this year to be able to share it with her own children as they come to understand what it really means.
Love of country and love of God always went hand-in-hand in their household growing up, Frese said. Her father reminded them often of how prayer and faith had gotten him through 444 days in captivity — a perspective that’s hard to argue with, she said with a laugh.
“You think you’re having a bad day and call him, and he reminds you right away that, you know, what you’re experiencing today is nothing like having three guns to your head,” she said. “So he’s always reminded us to be true in our faith and trust in God.”
Woodson’s favorite times with grandpa are fishing and going to church together, he said. And he’s proud to know that his grandfather served our country. “He’s a really big deal,” Woodson said.
It’s important for everyone to remember to thank veterans for their service, Rooney added.
“They help protect the world and help keep us safe,” she said.
