Hegseth Likens Easter Rescue of U.S. Airman to Resurrection of Jesus Christ

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/us/politics/hegseth-religious-tone.html

Hegseth Likens Easter Rescue of U.S. Airman to Resurrection of Jesus Christ

In his account of the rescue operation, Mr. Hegseth drew parallels between the airman’s ordeal and the account of Christ’s death and Resurrection given in the Bible.

The F-15E fighter jet, he noted, was “shot down on a Friday — Good Friday.” That is the day Jesus was crucified.

After the airman bailed out over Iran, he hid, Mr. Hegseth said, “in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday,” reminiscent of the tomb cut into a rock in which Jesus was buried.

Then, he said, the airman was rescued on the day Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus — “flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday.”

“A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing,” the defense secretary said. “God is good.”

Mr. Hegseth also said that after the plane was shot down, the airman, the F-15E’s weapons systems officer, made contact with his American rescuers with a religious message: “God is good.” “In that moment of isolation and danger,” he said, “his faith and fighting spirit shone through.”