20 years later, Rev. Jackson reunites with servicemen he helped release from Belgrade

Twenty years after he led an ecumenical delegation release of U.S. servicemen captured by Yugoslavian forces, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was reunited with two of the men he helped free.

“This time 20 years ago an amazing thing happened to us,” Jackson said, referring to the dangerous trip he led into the war-torn Balkans in the spring of 1999.

When Jackson first suggested traveling to Belgrade, Serbia, members of President Bill Clinton’s administration discouraged the trip, arguing it would be unsafe and used as propaganda by the soldiers’ captors.

“Bottom line, we brought them home,” Jackson said Saturday during his organization’s weekly broadcast at Rainbow PUSH Coalition National Headquarters, 930 E. 50th St.

Eventually, Jackson was successful in gaining the release of Specialist Steven Gonzalez, Staff Sgt. Andrew Ramirez and Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone. They had been held captive for 33 days. Only Stone and Ramirez were able to attend Saturday’s reunion.

AP

Stone told the PUSH gathering Saturday that for days after he was captured, “I found myself with my hands bound and a bag over my head.”

”It was a hopeless situation, and hope was brought to me,” Stone said, describing how he was marched into a room, expecting a trial but instead was greeted by Jackson, vowing to take him home.

”I will always be be eternally grateful,” Stone said, “for the efforts and the courage that it took to get into that country in the middle of a war zone and try to bring three young soldiers home. And I just can’t thank Rev. Jackson enough.”

Ramirez said his parents “are very grateful for Rev. Jackson.”

From the beginning, Jackson was “able to give them hope that we would come home,” Ramirez said.

Jackson’s delegation included the Rev. James Meeks, Rev. Joan Brown Campbell of the National Council of Churches and then-U.S. Rep. Rod Blagojevich.

During the reunion at PUSH, Patti Blagojevich, wife of the former governor, read a letter from her husband, who is serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges in a federal prison.

”I will always be grateful for the opportunity I had many years ago when I joined Reverend Jackson in securing the release of our soldiers being held as POWs during the war with Yugoslavia,” the former governor wrote.

The servicemen visited Rainbow PUSH in 1999 upon their release and were treated to a Chicago Cubs game by Jackson. He repeated the gesture Saturday, taking Stone and Ramirez to the Cubs game against the Pittsburg Pirates.

The stands erupted in applause and cheers when 20-year-old footage of their release and meeting with the reverend was played on the stadium’s giant video screen honoring Jackson, his delegation and the servicemen.