US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth compared the daring rescue mission to extract the missing F-15E aviator shot down over Iran to the three-day liturgical Triduum, celebrated by Christians worldwide from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.
Hegseth said the lost airman used an emergency transponder to indicate his location, and his first message was: 'God is good.'
He described the rescue mission as: 'Shot down on a Friday: Good Friday. Hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday. And rescued on Sunday. Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday.'
The defense secretary also revealed that the coordination call held by national security officials during the mission lasted nearly two days straight, with the meeting never stopping and planning never ceasing.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe credited 'top-secret technology' used by the agency to locate the aviator, comparing the search and rescue operation to 'hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert.'
