Hegseth draws Easter story parallel in describing rescue of airman

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew parallels Monday between the story of Easter and the airman rescued in Iran Sunday.

The Defense secretary, who has frequently infused his leadership of the Pentagon with references to his Christianity and the language of his faith, said the airman who evaded capture for more than a day was shot down on Good Friday, “hidden in a cave” on Saturday, and on Easter Sunday, “a pilot reborn, all home and accounted for.”

He said that when the airman was finally able to activate an emergency transponder, his first message he transmitted was: “God is good.”

Hegseth also described a coordination call held by national security officials during the daring and “unblinking” mission to rescue the U.S. airmen, which lasted nearly two days straight.

“For 45 hours and 56 minutes, we held that call open for coordination,” Hegseth said, describing the call that was held in a secure facility. “Our mission was unblinking.”