Jeffrey Zaun Suing Saddam

Jeffrey Zaun has a story few can tell. Just 12 years ago, the Cherry Hill, N.J., man was a Navy flyer. He was shot down and captured by the Iraqis during the Gulf War.

NBC 10 News reporter Terry Ruggles talked to Zaun about that terrifying night.

"It just got pretty ugly," Zaun told Ruggles.

On the first day of the war, Zaun's plane was shot down during a bombing run at a fuel depot

"(It was) cold. The pilot found me. He had two broken arms," Zaun said.

The Iraqis were quick to release a video of Zaun and two other soldiers who were captured. The Annapolis graduate looked like he had been in a prize fight.

"I was shot down. The air is pretty hard when you hit it at 500 mph. Also they smacked me around a little bit. But mostly that was with an open hand. They hit me in the face and karate-chopped me in the throat," Zaun remembered.

The war was over quickly and Zaun came home to a hero's welcome with parades and a country riding high on patriotism.

"The Berlin Wall fell down in November of 1989. The invasion of Kuwait was six, seven, eight months later in August of '90. The war punctuated the fact freedom is a stronger way to live," Zaun said.

Zaun left the service for a career in finance. Now a banker, he knows better than most what the troops gathering in the Gulf are feeling.

"You're gonna be pumping. You're gonna be scared," Zaun told Ruggles. "You're anxious, but you wouldn't want to miss it. There's an upside to going over there for a fight in that this is what you trained for, for years and years."

Zaun is no longer in the military, but he is still fighting the Iraqis -- in the courts. He and 16 others who were captured are suing Saddam Hussein for millions for the unlawful treatment and pain they suffered 12 years ago.

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