1,908 Days of Danger and Boredom

Imagine a world of darkened rooms and masked guards. For most of five years, you’re chained to a wall and deprived of any outside news. Going to the bathroom requires an appointment, and rifles are pointed at you much of the time.

That sums up Joe Cicippio’s daily routine during the 1,908 days he was held hostage in Beirut. His experience was similar to that of other American captives, but there were key differences that left a lasting impact. For example, hostages like David P. Jacobsen, Tom Sutherland and Frank Reed had conversations among themselves, sometimes arguing but always providing a sympathetic ear. Psychologically, they held each other together.

Cicippio, though, was isolated much of the time. Initially, French hostage Jean-Louis Normandin provided company and showed him how to exercise while chained to a wall. But after Normandin was released in 1987, Cicippio’s only company for more than four years was Edward A. Tracy, an American writer.

Today, Cicippio praises Tracy’s resilience and refuses to discuss his former companion, who has been under psychiatric care at a Boston VA Hospital since his release in August, 1991. But others close to the situation say Tracy’s mental condition deteriorated in captivity, which caused problems for Cicippio.

To cope, Cicippio spent hours thinking about his family. He also was fortunate to have dozens of books, thanks to his captors. Cicippio, a businessman, once read only financial texts and the Wall Street Journal. Now, he was reading books about politics, the environment and the Russian Revolution.

“In one sense, the guards gave more than they took,” he says. “By reading and having time to think, I began creating the new me.”

Still, there were daily crises. When Cicippio remarked one winter morning that guards hadn’t brought him his customary drink of tea, one thrust a rifle against his ear and snapped: “This is not a restaurant.”

When danger subsided, boredom took over. In time, Cicippio was allowed to watch pirated copies of films like “The Godfather” and “Mary Poppins.” Thinking it would help him endure stress, he went on a crash diet, living mainly on cheese, fruit, rice and nuts, and rejecting the greasy food from street vendors and soft drinks that were offered. His captors fed him on small china plates that bore the TWA logo, and Cicippio later discovered they had been stolen during the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847 in Beirut.

While some guards were physically cruel, others played headgames. At one point, they convinced Cicippio that President Ronald Reagan had been assassinated by Iranian hit men in New York City. He was kept ignorant of major events like the Iran-Contra scandal and the Persian Gulf War.

When the ordeal ended, Cicippio was 40 pounds lighter and had startling changes to confront: The disintegration of the Soviet Union, the eruption of the S&L; crisis and the wonder of fax machines.

“At first, breathing clean air was almost too much, and I felt my knees buckle,” Cicippio says. “Looking at the sky again was also incredible.

“But you know what really seemed wonderful? It was being able to go to the bathroom and doing what you have to do, and not having to worry if somebody’s knocking. It’s the simple things you remember.”