Retired Col Lee Ellis, whose outstanding book Leading with Honor made the Recommended list here as well as General Mark Welsh’s professional reading list, recently addressed cadets at the US Air Force Academy as part of the 2013 National Character and Leadership Symposium.

A prisoner of war held in the “Hanoi Hilton” for five and a half years shared his compelling story of imprisonment and success with cadets…
 
Retired Col. Lee Ellis was held captive along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others after his plane was shot down Nov. 7, 1967.

Col Ellis shared his perspective on purpose, passion, and courage, and did not shy from sharing the role God played in his perspective and life:

Faith in God, the U.S. and his fellow Airmen brought him hope amidst continual torture and seclusion in North Vietnam, he said…

“Pilots often like to think they’re in control, even when they’re not,” Ellis said. “We were mostly pilots and aircrew who believed that someday we were going to leave,” Ellis said. “I personally believed that when they didn’t kill me, and I made it through my ejection and capture, that God had a purpose in my life and I was going to somehow walk out of there someday.”

ADVERTISEMENT