"Welcome Home, Soldier"

Dozier tells his story, and the Red Brigades crackdown goes on

I know you don't like being praised I for what you only consider your duty," Ronald Reagan told the guest of honor with mock sternness at last week's annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. "Forgive me. I'm going to pull rank on you." With that, the Commander in Chief proceeded to lavish an encomium on Brigadier General James L. Dozier for bravery during his 42-day ordeal as a prisoner of Italy's Red Brigades terrorists. Added Reagan with deft simplicity: "Welcome home, soldier."

For the trim, crew-cut Dozier, 50, the days following his dramatic rescue by a team of Italian antiterrorist commandos on Jan. 28 have been a whirlwind of debriefings, press conferences and meetings with heads of state in both Italy and the U.S. Before flying to Washington for breakfast with Reagan, the general lunched with Italian President Sandro Pertini, then met with Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini at Rome's Chigi Palace. Throughout, Dozier handled himself like a practiced politician, showing no signs of the anxiety or depression that so often afflicts victims of a hostage taking. Only once, when his Air Force C-141 transport dipped a wing dangerously low during an aborted landing at Andrews Air Force Base, was his homecoming potentially marred. When the plane finally touched down safely, Dozier greeted Vice President George Bush on the tarmac with characteristic unconcern. Said he: "It's doggone good to be home."

For a man who had just endured six weeks of virtual immobilization at the hands of captors with a reputation for cold-blooded murder, it was a remarkable performance. Dozier forthrightly admitted he had been too busy to heed repeated warnings about potential terrorist attacks before his abduction. From the moment he was taken to the terrorists' Padua apartment on Dec. 17, Dozier was chained by his left ankle and right wrist to a raised wooden platform covered by a small camping tent. He was never allowed to get up or move around the apartment outside the tent. He washed himself with a pail of water brought to him once a week, and was supplied with a chemical toilet. His captors hung a white 40-watt light bulb in the tent during what Dozier took to be daytime, and replaced it with a blue 40-watt bulb, presumably at night. His daily regimen included exercising as best he could inside the tent, occasionally reading (George Orwell's 1984, clippings from TIME and various newspapers about his abduction), playing solitaire and napping. He was regularly fed "well-balanced" meals (meat, green vegetable, sometimes a starch) by his captors, who always wore ski masks in his presence. "At no time," Dozier said, "did I see anyone with his or her face uncovered."