WEST POINT, N.Y. — As Lady Gaga sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Super Bowl 50 kicked off on Sunday, Don Cooke walked into the lounge of the Thayer Hotel on the grounds of the United States Military Academy here and put his hat over his heart.
“I’m proud to have served my country,” said Mr. Cooke, a retired Foreign Service officer with the State Department who was working in the United States Embassy in Tehran when he and 51 other Americans were taken hostage in November 1979. “I worked for the people of the United States.