Chronology of Jacobsen’s 17 Months as a Hostage

Sunday’s safe release of David P. Jacobsen of Huntington Beach was greeted with joy and relief by his family and many Orange County residents concerned about the plight of American hostages in Lebanon during the last two years.

Here’s a brief chronology of important events during the 17 months Jacobsen was held captive by Shia Muslims in Beirut.

May 28, 1985: Jacobsen, the administrator of American University Hospital in Beirut, is kidnaped as he walks to his office.

June 8, 1985: Jacobsen’s three children, Eric Jacobsen, Paul Jacobsen and Diane Duggan, break their silence on the abduction of their father and grant an interview to The Times.

Aug. 29, 1985: Residents of the Hylond Convalescent Hospital in Westminster “adopt” Jacobsen and six other American hostages and begin daily prayer vigils for their safe release.

Sept. 12, 1985: Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister held hostage along with Jacobsen, Terry A. Anderson, Thomas Sutherland and Father Lawrence M. Jenco, is released unharmed.

Sept. 20, 1985: The families of the American hostages meet in Washington with Vice President George Bush and criticize the Administration for not doing enough to secure the safe release of the hostages.

Oct. 14, 1985: The Huntington Beach City Council orders that a yellow flag in honor of Jacobsen and the other hostages be flown outside City Hall.

Nov. 14, 1985: The family receives a letter, dated Nov. 8, from their father in which Jacobsen criticizes President Reagan for not negotiating for the safe release of the American hostages.

November, December, 1985: Terry Waite, the envoy of the Anglican church in England, makes three trips to Beirut for face-to-face negotiations with the Shia Muslims for the release of the hostages. The attempts fail. Meanwhile, the families of the American hostages begin monthly trips to Washington to lobby the Reagan Administration to do more for the safe release of the hostages.

Dec. 9, 1985: The families of the hostages and residents of Hylond Convalescent Hospital plant trees on the lawn of Westminster City Hall in honor of the hostages.

April 15, 1985: The body of Peter Kilburn of San Francisco, another American missing in Beirut, is found. The Arab Revolutionary Cells, a pro-Libyan group, issues a message saying Kilburn and two British citizens were killed in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya.

June 6, 1986: The song “When the Word Comes (Bring Them Home),” written by Paul and Eric Jacobsen and sung by Eric, is released.

July 26, 1985: Jenco becomes the second American hostage held in Beirut to be freed unharmed.

Sept. 19, 1985: The U.S. government secures the release of journalist Nicholas Daniloff, detained on espionage charges in the Soviet Union, and Eric Jacobsen criticizes President Reagan for putting the plight of his father and the other American hostages in Beirut “at the bottom of the list.”

Oct. 31, 1985: British envoy Terry Waite resurfaces in Beirut and later meets with U.S. officials in Cyprus and announces negotiations are continuing for the release of the hostages.

Nov. 2, 1985: David Jacobsen, in captivity for 531 days, is released unharmed near the former U.S. Embassy complex in Beirut.