For the 39 American hostages, their anxious relatives in the U.S., and for officials in Washington, Damascus and Jerusalem, the weekend had sent emotions spiraling from hope to gloom and back again. The captives were on their way to freedom, the White House had announced before dawn on Saturday. But no. They were still in Beirut. The carefully crafted plan for their release had gone awry. Darkness fell in the war-torn city, and the hostages were once again split into groups and sent back to their beds in the secret hideaways of their Shi'ite Muslim guards from Lebanon's Amal militia. When they awoke on Sunday, they had no way of knowing how much longer their ordeal would last.
But soon they were on their way back to a schoolyard in an Amal-controlled neighborhood in Beirut. Waiting for them were at least ten Red Cross vehicles that would take them to Damascus, where a U.S. Air Force C-141 StarLifter transport was ready to fly them to West Germany and freedom after 17 days of the televised Terrorist Suspense Spectacular.
At 5:45 p.m. Beirut time, 10:45 a.m. in Washington, the freedom ride finally began along the mountainous 75-mile road to Damascus. Accompanying the hostages were armed escorts from Amal and from another Lebanese faction, the Druze. Also in the caravan were representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian army officers and security agents, which helped emphasize the pivotal role Syria had played in arranging the release of the long-waylaid passengers and crew of TWA Flight 847.
"It's great, it's great, we are going home," one of the Americans called out to journalists. The TWA pilot, Captain John Testrake, shook hands with some Lebanese bystanders and then climbed into the lead Red Cross car. The convoy was headed by a Lebanese Army truck with an antiaircraft gun, and there were others mounted with heavy machine guns. Shortly before beginning their 3 1/2-hour drive to Damascus, the Americans were given flowers, farewell tokens from their captors. Reporters were kept away by militiamen, who fired shots into the air and rolled unprimed grenades toward the startled newsmen.
The White House, exercising extreme caution, made no official statement about the hostage release until National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane verified through official sources that the convoy had reached the Syrian border. Then, at 2:05 p.m., White House Spokesman Larry Speakes made a brief statement, including the President's response. "That's very welcome news," said Ronald Reagan. Using pilots' slang for airborne, he added, "Let me know when they are wheels up."