GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT, SATURNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1980
Greenwich man receives a reply
Dr. Albert J. Repicci was shocked when he opened a letter in his office Thursday and found it was from the senior official being held hostage at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran.
“I couldn’t believe it,” the orthodontist, who practices on Milbank Avenue said.
The letter was from Bruce Laingen, charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It was written Oct. 24.
He said the envelope contained several postmarks from Switzerland and Ger-many and a Tehran return address, but he didn’t notice them as he was opening the letter.
Repicci has written to the hostages three times, but he never expected to receive a reply, he explained. He added that he might have been fortunate enough to get a response because he wrote to them during a “lull period,” while most people have been writing during the holidays.
He said he started writing to the hostages last Christmas and encouraged others in his office to do the same. The letters were addressed to the American hostages, care of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, he stated.
Referring to his last letter, he said, “I prefaced the letter with reassurance of our concern. I said the churches are remembering them in their prayers and the schools mention the hostages to the students.”
“I just interjected a subject that provided a lighter tone,” he noted, explaining why he wrote about sports to the captives.
He said he told them that the Freedom had won the American Cup race, who had won the U.S. Tennis Open, the status of the World Series, golf reports, football predictions and of the impending fight Muhammad Ali ended up losing.
“I never heard of anyone getting a letter,” Repicci asserted.
But a spokesman for the State Department’s Iran Working Group said there have been “a number” of letters from the hostages to residents in the States.
Repicci said he contacted the State Department to learn where Mrs. Laingen lives so he could tell her about the letter. The Iran Working Group told him they would have her call him, he added.
“I would like to convey the fact the letter was received to the family,” explain¬ed the Old Greenwich resident. “I’m sure they could use the support as much as he could.”
He noted that in his letter, Laingen states he is receiving no mail, and none is leaving Iran because of the war. Therefore, the Laingen family may not have heard from the charge d’affaires recently, he said.
A spokesman for the Iran Working Group, who wished not to be named, said there are charter flights leaving Iran every now and then, and a letter might have come on one of those. He added that the two men Laingen mentions he has been placed with are Michael Howland and Victor Thomseth.
“They were making a routine visit to the foreign ministry when it was over-taken,” he reported.
Since there was no ambassador at the embassy, Laingen is the senior official there. He said the three are separated from the other Americans, but are allow-ed to read newspapers.
“I feel this letter is meant for the public,” Repicci maintained, pointing to the biblical verse Laingen said he lives by: “Don’t lose your confidence. It carries a rich reward.”
“He obviously didn’t expect the letter to leave,” the orthodontist added.
Laingen had written: “The airport is closed, since the war began, so no mail arrives or leaves. We will see what can be done with this letter.”
“I didn’t even know how they handled the mail. I thought perhaps they destroy them. But I figured if they do throw them away, it was only a half hour of my time lost,” Repicci said.
He noted that the letter gives him a more direct return address: Bruce La-ingen, IWG – Tehran, P.O. Box 2976, Washington, D.C., 20013.
“Receiving this around Thanksgiving time has more impact. It makes you touch base with reality and gives the season more meaning,” Repicci maintained.
Letter from a hostage
