{{Short description|United States Marine}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person |image = Ken Kraus 1979.png |image_size = |caption = |height = |birth_name = |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|9|27}} |birth_place = Lansdale, Pennsylvania, U.S. |spouse = |known_for = Being the first United States hostage of Iranian militants prior to the Iran hostage crisis |occupation = U.S. Marine, United States Marine Corps (1975–1986)<br/>Detective, Roswell, Georgia Police (1995–2016) }}
'''Kenneth L. Kraus''' is a former United States Marine who was the first American taken hostage by Iranian militants prior to the Iran hostage crisis.<ref name=NoFuton>{{cite news|last=Copsey|first=Jonathan|title=Roswell cop Kenneth Kraus was a former Iran hostage|url=http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-TOP-STORIES-c-2013-03-19-197887.114126-sub-Roswell-cop-Kenneth-Kraus-was-a-former-Iran-hostage.html|newspaper=NorthFulton.com|date=19 March 2013|access-date=2014-04-30|archive-date=2014-05-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502014136/http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-TOP-STORIES-c-2013-03-19-197887.114126-sub-Roswell-cop-Kenneth-Kraus-was-a-former-Iran-hostage.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Early life==
Kraus grew up in Pennsylvania. He joined the Marines in 1975 as an air traffic controller. He re-enlisted and moved to embassy duty; his first embassy assignment was in Cyprus.<ref name=Post>{{cite news |title='How can you trust these people?' The brutal ordeal of America's forgotten Iranian hostage. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/05/11/how-can-you-trust-these-people-the-ordeal-of-americas-forgotten-iranian-hostage/ |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 11, 2018 |access-date=January 4, 2024}}</ref>
==Experience== On February 14, 1979, at approximately 9:45 am in Tehran, the United States Embassy in Tehran was attacked and held<ref name=AmSpectator_Lord>{{cite news|last1=Lord|first1=Jeffrey|title=Jimmy Carter's Dead Ambassador|url=http://spectator.org/articles/34550/jimmy-carters-dead-ambassador|agency=American Spectator|publisher=American Spectator|date=23 Oct 2012|access-date=7 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506234903/http://spectator.org/articles/34550/jimmy-carters-dead-ambassador|archive-date=6 May 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> by Fadaiyan-e-Khalq militants in what became known as the ''Valentine's Day Open House''.<ref name="CIA Report_Daugherty">{{cite journal|last1=Daugherty|first1=William J.|title=A First Tour Like No Other|journal=CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence|date=1996|volume=Held Hostage in Iran|issue=Spring 1998|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/iran.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613110941/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/iran.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2007}}</ref> One Marine, Kraus, was shot and injured, then kidnapped. He spent a week in detention, where he was tortured for sensitive information on the embassy. He was accused of shooting Iranian civilians and stood trial in what he referred to as a Kangaroo court.<ref name="Rosenwald_Kraus">{{cite news |last1=Rosenwald |first1=Michael |title='How can you trust these people?' The brutal ordeal of America's forgotten Iranian hostage. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/05/11/how-can-you-trust-these-people-the-ordeal-of-americas-forgotten-iranian-hostage/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=11 May 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=People>{{cite news|last=Walter|first=Greg|title=A Brave Young Leatherneck Escapes Death in Iran...|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20073111,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502032224/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20073111,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 2, 2014|newspaper=People Magazine|date=12 March 1979}}</ref> He was sentenced to death.<ref name=AP_FLS>{{cite news|last=Associated Press|author-link=Associated Press|title=Former Hostage Files Suit Against Iran|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19800212&id=geJNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4412,1573458|newspaper=Free Lance Star/AP|date=12 Feb 1980}}</ref> Within a week, United States President Jimmy Carter and Ambassador William Sullivan secured his release, and he returned to a hero's welcome, and was awarded the Purple Heart and Navy Commendation Medal, which honors acts of heroism.<ref name="Rosenwald_Kraus"/>
== Capture == {{main|Iran hostage crisis#First attempt}} At 22 years old Kraus was sent to Tehran. Then, in February 1979, the Iranian Revolution began and the Shah was overthrown. That was when the embassy came under attack for the first time.
The compound was overrun at 10:30 am.<ref name=Deseret>{{cite news|last=Sheldon Engelmayer|author-link=Sheldon Engelmayer|title=Hostage Suit Tells Torture|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19810204&id=hj8jAAAAIBAJ&pg=4479,414133|newspaper=The Deseret News|date=4 Feb 1981}}</ref> The 19 Marine guards were armed only with pistols and shotguns. Embassy staff locked themselves in the communications vault and started to destroy documents. Fedayeen militants threatened to set fire to the place and kill them all, so Ambassador Sullivan ordered the surrender of the embassy.<ref name=Houghton_Book>{{cite book|last=Houghton|first=David Patrick|title=US foreign policy and the Iran hostage crisis|date=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge [u.a.]|isbn=978-0521805094|page=77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPf-vBzU46EC&q=Kraus|edition=[Online-Ausg.].}}</ref>
By that time Kraus and two other Marines were in the embassy cafeteria with more than 18 civilians. One of the militants approached the building and Kraus caught him by surprise and pointed a shotgun at his head. He and his fellow Marines negotiated to let the civilians go peacefully. The Marines then destroyed most of the weapons to keep them from falling into the hands of the militants. Militants then stormed the restaurant and captured the marines. One of them fired a shotgun at Kraus, but his body armor absorbed the brunt of the impact. He was hit in his head and chest with shrapnel, but not severely.<ref name=Deseret /> He was then beaten for information. When he did not give anything to his captors, one of them pulled a gun and fired it in close proximity, intentionally not to kill, but to wound him further; he was bleeding from his neck, arms and chest.<ref name=Deseret />
Within hours he awoke in a hospital and was then blindfolded and taken to the Islamic Revolutionary Prison.<ref name=Houghton_Kraus>{{cite book|last1=Houghton|first1=David Patrick|title=US foreign policy and the Iran hostage crisis|date=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge [u.a.]|isbn=9780521805094|page=77|edition=[Online-Ausg.].|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zw18f_uonosC&q=Iran+%22Valentine%27s+Day+Open+House%22&pg=PA77}}</ref> He was interrogated and tortured, then on February 20, 1979, he stood trial in what was a ten-minute process; he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, to be carried out on February 22, 1979.
== Release and return == With the help of Iranian Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi, the siege was ended within three hours, but Kraus' whereabouts were claimed to be unknown. It took less than a week to arrange his release.<ref name=Houghton_Book /> [[File:Ken Kraus and his mom.png|thumb| Kenneth Kraus and his mother as he deplaned at Andrews Air Force Base]] On February 21, Kraus was handed back over to the United States at the embassy, then flown to Washington, D.C., via Ramstein Air Base in Germany.<ref name=EveNews>{{cite news|last=Associated Press|author-link=Associated Press|title=Kraus Heads Home After Iranian Release|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1982&dat=19790222&id=FF9GAAAAIBAJ&pg=3449,3103267|newspaper=The Evening News|date=22 Feb 1979}}</ref>
==Awards and commendation== [[File:Kenneth Kraus Award Ceremony 2-22-81.jpg|thumb|Kenneth Kraus being given the Cross of Valor with Governor Dick Thornburgh in 1979]] He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy Commendation Medal.
== Lawsuit == Kraus filed a $60 million lawsuit against the Iranian Government on February 11, 1980.<ref name=Observer>{{cite news|last=Associated Press|author-link=Associated Press|title=Injured US Marine Sues Iran for Damages|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19800212&id=36NdAAAAIBAJ&pg=2579,1221602|newspaper=Observer-Reporter|date=12 Feb 1980}}</ref>
==See also== *List of kidnappings *List of solved missing person cases
== Post-military career == * Special nuclear materials security specialist for the U.S. Dept of Energy (1986–1992).<ref name=LinkedIn>{{cite web|title=Ken Kraus|url=https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ken-kraus/15/a61/599|publisher=LinkedIn|access-date=1 May 2014|url-access=registration }}</ref> * Graduate of the National Forensic Academy at the University of Tennessee (1992–1995). * Crime scene investigator and police detective in the Roswell, Georgia, police department (1995–2016).<ref name=Patch>{{cite news|last=Foster|first=Christine|title=Roswell Detective Graduates from 'The Body Farm'|url=http://roswell.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/roswell-detective-graduates-from-the-body-farm|newspaper=Roswell Patch|date=4 December 2012}}</ref>
== Notes == *Photographs of Kraus [http://www.northfulton.com/datedimages/2013/03/19/11FD9Anvku9A1136.med.jpg 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502014142/http://www.northfulton.com/datedimages/2013/03/19/11FD9Anvku9A1136.med.jpg |date=2014-05-02 }}, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140502004520/http://o2.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/PATCH/quality/82/resize/1803x704%5E/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/patch/b66af59f343e25bb5000b17840893dad 2] *More photographs on [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kenneth_Kraus Wiki Commons]
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kraus, Kenneth L}} Category:1956 births Category:1970s missing person cases Category:1979 in Iran Category:American people taken hostage Category:American police detectives Category:American terrorism victims Category:Formerly missing American people Category:Kidnapped American people Category:Kidnappings in Iran Category:Living people Category:Missing person cases in Iran Category:People from Lansdale, Pennsylvania Category:People from Roswell, Georgia Category:United States Marines