Frank Herbert Reed

American hostage Frank H. Reed was released Monday night from more than 3 1/2 years of captivity in Lebanon and turned over to U.S. authorities in Damascus. Reed's release came just eight days after the freeing of another American hostage, Robert Polhill, 55, a former accountant and business professor at Beirut University College. After being examined by a Syrian doctor at the U.S. ambassador's residence, Reed was flown by a medically equipped U.S.

Now that spring is here, Frank H. Reed is heading for the golf course, trying to tone up muscles still flabby from the 44 months he spent as a bound and blindfolded hostage in Beirut. Robert Polhill, a captive for 22 months, is fighting to learn to speak again, having lost his larynx to throat cancer surgery. It has been a year since Reed and Polhill were released, the last two Americans to emerge from imprisonment.

Freed hostage Frank H. Reed's joyous reunion Sunday with his 91-year-old mother was tempered with an urgent plea for the speedy release of the six Americans still held captive. "They aren't well," he implored after arriving at Boston's Logan International Airport. "They are sick. I promise you they are sick. Let us not forget them."

Tests performed on former hostage Frank H. Reed revealed an "inordinate" amount of arsenic in his body, leaving him afraid for the safety of other Westerners still held in Lebanon, his lawyer said Saturday. Physicians at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where Reed has been undergoing treatment since his release April 30, did not say how or when Reed may have ingested the poisonous substance.

Now that spring is here, Frank H. Reed is heading for the golf course, trying to tone up muscles still flabby from the 44 months he spent as a bound and blindfolded hostage in Beirut. Robert Polhill, a captive for 22 months, is fighting to learn to speak again, having lost his larynx to throat cancer surgery. It has been a year since Reed and Polhill were released, the last two Americans to emerge from imprisonment.

An American educator held hostage in Beirut, Frank H. Reed, will be freed within 48 hours, according to statements delivered to news offices in the Lebanese capital Sunday evening. The statements were accompanied by photos of Reed, a native of Malden, Mass., the first hard evidence of him since his kidnaping on Sept. 9, 1986.

Freed hostage Frank H. Reed urged a crowd of several thousand in Malden, Mass., to remember those still held captive in the Middle East as he spoke at a homecoming celebration. He was joined by his wife and other relatives in front of City Hall. Reed, 57, head of the Lebanese International School when gunmen abducted him in 1986, said he was torn between the desire to stay close to home and the urge to publicize the plights of the remaining 16 Western hostages.

Freed hostage Frank H. Reed pronounced himself in good health Saturday, saying: "I'm beautiful, I'm OK." Reed said his kidnapers "treated me fine" the last six months of his captivity and joked that "room service was pretty good." His doctors said they were pleased with how he looked, even though his weight had dropped from 185 pounds to about 140 now. "Our early evaluations are good," said Brig. Gen. Robert W. Poel, commander of the Malcolm Grow Air Force Medical Center.

Lt. Col. Oliver L. North and others were aware that the arms-for-hostages program may have contributed to the seizure of Americans in Lebanon as well as the release of three U.S. hostages, documents show. North, during his testimony at the congressional Iran- contra hearings last week, defended selling U.S.-made weapons to Tehran on the grounds that three men were freed, and "there was no terrorism while we were engaged in (the deal) until it started to come unraveled."

The White House on Monday rebuffed former hostage Frank H. Reed's appeal for the United States to negotiate for the freedom of the remaining 16 Western hostages in Lebanon. White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that Reed "obviously has been through a torturous and brutal ordeal." He suggested that Reed's comments stemmed from "the frustration and anger" of his more than three years in captivity.

Freed hostage Frank H. Reed urged a crowd of several thousand in Malden, Mass., to remember those still held captive in the Middle East as he spoke at a homecoming celebration. He was joined by his wife and other relatives in front of City Hall. Reed, 57, head of the Lebanese International School when gunmen abducted him in 1986, said he was torn between the desire to stay close to home and the urge to publicize the plights of the remaining 16 Western hostages.

Freed hostage Frank H. Reed's joyous reunion Sunday with his 91-year-old mother was tempered with an urgent plea for the speedy release of the six Americans still held captive. "They aren't well," he implored after arriving at Boston's Logan International Airport. "They are sick. I promise you they are sick. Let us not forget them."

Terry A. Anderson, the longest held of the Western hostages in Lebanon, helped fellow prisoners make Scrabble and Monopoly games to amuse themselves, former captive Frank H. Reed told Anderson's sister, Peggy Say. Although Anderson, 42, is in good physical condition from plenty of exercise, he is tired and needs dental care, Say said Reed told her Sunday. She said Reed thinks he last saw Anderson between a year and 18 months ago. "He is still a vindictive hearts player," she said.

The White House on Monday rebuffed former hostage Frank H. Reed's appeal for the United States to negotiate for the freedom of the remaining 16 Western hostages in Lebanon. White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that Reed "obviously has been through a torturous and brutal ordeal." He suggested that Reed's comments stemmed from "the frustration and anger" of his more than three years in captivity.

Former hostage Frank H. Reed, appearing stronger and angrier at the end of a week of freedom, said Sunday that his kidnapers in Lebanon beat him severely, broke his jaw, his nose, some ribs and his feet after two unsuccessful escape attempts. In what he described as "four days of hell" after his first attempt, Reed said he was struck more than 200 times about his head and body, and his legs and feet were beaten with a metal rod.

Freed hostage Frank H. Reed pronounced himself in good health Saturday, saying: "I'm beautiful, I'm OK." Reed said his kidnapers "treated me fine" the last six months of his captivity and joked that "room service was pretty good." His doctors said they were pleased with how he looked, even though his weight had dropped from 185 pounds to about 140 now. "Our early evaluations are good," said Brig. Gen. Robert W. Poel, commander of the Malcolm Grow Air Force Medical Center.

Tests performed on former hostage Frank H. Reed revealed an "inordinate" amount of arsenic in his body, leaving him afraid for the safety of other Westerners still held in Lebanon, his lawyer said Saturday. Physicians at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where Reed has been undergoing treatment since his release April 30, did not say how or when Reed may have ingested the poisonous substance.

The family waiting near the kitchen table in the second-floor apartment could have formed a Norman Rockwell tableau except for the throng of reporters and the hot television lights. A framed photograph of hostage Frank H. Reed stood on the table alongside a television set tuned to a soap opera. While Reed's Syrian-born second wife, Fahima (Fifi), waited by the phone, his 91-year-old mother, Leota Reed Sprague, and other relatives sat quietly.

Freed hostage Frank H. Reed returned Friday to the United States after more than three years in captivity, emerging from a military plane to be embraced by two daughters, former hostage Robert Polhill and Peggy Say, sister of hostage Terry A. Anderson. Stepping onto the runway at nearby Andrews Air Force Base, Reed read a statement thanking the Syrian government for its part in securing his release.

Frank H. Reed said Wednesday that he was with two other American hostages for part of his 43 months as a captive in Lebanon and offered the first confirmation that two British hostages, unheard of since their kidnaping in April, 1986, are still alive. Clad in a blue hospital bathrobe and shouting answers to questions from a balcony of the U.S.