‘Modern-Day Miracle’: Rescued Troop Shot Down Over Iran Recounts Surviving Brutal Crash Behind Enemy Lines on 60 Minutes

Jennifer Bowers BahneyMon, September 14, 2026 at 12:35 AM UTC

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A U.S. weapons systems officer referred to only as “Bravo” for security purposes told 60 Minutes on Sunday his survival after a catastrophic parachute failure over Iran was a “modern-day miracle.”

“My parachute was damaged in the initial attack. At one point, when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most — that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, growing emotional. “So, I paused right then and I prayed, ‘Lord, your will be done. But if I’m getting through this, I need help.'”

An incredulous Norah O’Donnell exclaimed, “While you’re in the air?”

“Yeah,” he responded.

Bravo said the sensation was like “free-falling.”

“I wasn’t focused on the speed at which I was falling,” he said. “I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me and doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose.”

Bravo estimated that he was traveling between 70 and 100 miles per hour when he hit the ground in the rugged mountainous terrain.

“How did you survive that?” O’Donnell asked.

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“A modern-day miracle,” Bravo answered. “I believe that it’s a testament to God’s provision in my life to bring me through that moment in a way that didn’t prevent injuries, but prevented any catastrophic injuries that would have affected my ability to survive.”

“The fall broke Bravo’s back,” O’Donnell said in her voice over. “He also sustained a broken arm, broken shoulder, sprained ankle, and he was bleeding from cuts and scrapes to his head and face.”

“I had injuries, but we all train to adapt and overcome the things that are — that we’re faced with,” he said. “I moved as quickly as I could, despite the injuries, away from the place that I landed.”

Bravo told 60 Minutes that the safest place for him at the time was up a 7,000-foot ridgeline that he’d have to climb, broken back and all.

“Given your injuries, how did you find the strength to make it up the mountain?” O’Donnell asked.

“Let a lack motivation put you on an Iranian TV,” Bravo answered, prompting O’Donnell to ask, “You were thinking that?”

“Absolutely,” Bravo said.

Watch above via CBS.

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