Three survivors from the Benghazi attacks on September 11, 2012 spoke to a captive audience at City Bank Auditorium Friday night.
John Tiegen, Kris Paronto and Mark Geist fought back against the Islamic militants that attacked the U.S. Consulate in Libya.
“We couldn’t have gotten through what we did without God’s hand in that,” Geist said. “I think that’s the reason we were able to come out against the odds that we were.”
Two Americans were killed that day, including United States Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
“The truth wasn’t being told from both the Left and the Right,” Geist said. “They were putting out stories about what happened to the Ambassador about being drug through the street and being mutilated and that didn’t happen.”
The survivors recounted the events in a book, that also became a movie, called 13 Hours.
“We just felt the families deserved to know the truth with what happened and everyone deserves to know the truth of what happened that night on the ground,” Geist said.
Now they travel across the country sharing their story of faith, family and freedom. The survivors said the most important thing they want the people to know about what they went through, is how to overcome adversity.
“You can get together as an individual, team, corporation, whatever it is, if you focus on your similarities, come together, you can overcome that adversity that’s in your life,” Geist said.
Proceeds from the event went to Southcrest Christian School, which recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary.
