ST. LOUIS– A St. Louis man who found his fate uniquely intertwined with that of former President Jimmy Carter remembers the late chief executive as “a wonderful man” who led a humble life.

Carter died Sunday at the age of 100.

Rocky Sickmann met Carter the day after Carter left office on Jan. 20, 1981. It’s an event both men no doubt wish would’ve happened much sooner if it had to happen at all under the circumstances. Sickman was one of 66 Americans at the U.S. Embassy taken hostage by Iranian revolutionaries on Nov. 4, 1979. Sickmann and 51 others were held for 444 days, literally to the very end of the Carter presidency.

Sickmann, born and raised in Krakow, Mo., was 22 and a Marine guard at the embassy at the time. Iranians sent Mohammad Reza Shah, a longtime American ally, into exile earlier in the year  and were upset by the U.S. decision to let him seek cancer treatment in New York.

In a 2023 interview with Spectrum News, Sickmann said that he and the other handful of Marines would’ve been on their own to secure the property for 18 hours before American military forces could arrive. The White House ordered them to surrender, in hopes that diplomacy would bring resolution.

Thirteen hostages were released less than three weeks later. Sickmann remembered being upset in captivity, wondering early on why the military hadn’t come to their rescue. What he would only learn after he was released was that eight service members died in a failed rescue attempt. He also found out that Carter himself was giving families regular updates.

“President Carter, God love him, he had called all of our families each month to fly into DC and meet with them,” Sickmann said.  

“He had a genuine feeling about what was happening to us,” Sickmann added. “The Islamic Government of Iran, they used this President Carter and they told us, they told me in my interrogations, it is not you the American people we hate, it's your government. But we would use you to humiliate your government.”

That humiliation continued right until the very end, as Sickmann and the other hostages were on a plane waiting to take off into what they hoped would be freedom. The plane taxied, but then came to a stop on the runway.

“From all the mock firing squads, the Russian roulette, we're sitting there thinking, they're screwing with us one last time. No, it wasn't that they weren't screwing with us, they were stabbing President Carter one last time in his back,” He said. “They waited 20 minutes because  President Carter was still in office, and they waited 20 minutes to wait until he was out of office and President Reagan was in and then they release them. Just to stab in the back.”

After stops in Algiers and Greece, the plane landed in West Germany where the newly-freed hostages received medical attention.

The next day, they received a visit from Carter himself.

“He held himself accountable," Sickmann said. "He goes 'I was president and obviously I have to live with the fact that 8 individuals lost their life trying to come over to rescue you and you, your family were held hostage for 444 days.'"

Sickmann remembers Carter as "a wonderful man" who was dedicated to the betterment of America.

"He was a man who obviously took it very seriously and I don't think that was something he ever forgot in his life,” he said.

Sickmann returned home and after the military, began a career at Anheuser Busch in charge of military sales. Now he works with Folds of Honor, an organization that provides scholarships to families of fallen or disabled military and first responders. 

It resonates with him given the sacrifices made on his behalf.

“Every morning, I wake up I don’t feel bad about myself," Sickmann said. "I think about what those guys did and how they left families and how our military still continues to fight the war on terrorism that started November 4, 1979... What that man has done...he's a lived a very humble life, giving back and I truly believe that."

Former president Jimmy Carter was surrounded by family in his hometown of Plains, Georgia when he died, according to The Carter Center. He's survived by four children, Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He was the longest living former president.