For anyone interested: https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/i-saw-the-elephant/

@Mike Larsen as a Navy guy, you’ll appreciate this and you’d love the book. 

@Dave Gray that’s cool! Please let me know what you think of the stories. 

@Kyle Morrow let me know what you think! It’s simple writing but the stories are unreal 

Wow!! Great post, Brad! Incredible respect to him and all those that have served!🇺🇸

@Brad Luttrell I’ll definitely look for it! Sounds like a helluva man and stories

@Brad Luttrell It's stories like that, that make you proud to be an American.

Al definitely have to check this out man, nice one 

Thank you for sharing Brad!  The amazing courage and strength of John speaks volumes!!!  Thank you John, my dad (Navy 30 years) and all of our wonderful service women and men for each of your service and sacrifices.  🙏🙏🙏 

Ordered my copy.  You're lucky to know some of your family history Brad.  I had an uncle that served in the navy during WWII in the south pacific and never talked about it.  That's some of our family history we'll never know.

@David Snyder I totally agree. I was so happy to have this captured. I wish I could have talked to John and my papaw (John’s brother) about it

@Steve Lineweaver that’s amazing! What a career

My great uncle was a war hero and after 33 months as a prisoner of war, he did something incredible. 🇺🇸

This uncle, John Luttrell, wrote one of the best books I've read this year. It spans his 25 year military career and documents tales from his service in a very plain spoken, Eastern Kentucky fashion. 

A few highlights:
• He saved an entire cargo ship after leaving Australia one morning. A sub marine was pummeling the ship, and the ship's guns could not reach the submarine. He took 3 shots from his ship & the third shot sank the sub.

• He was in the Navy and served under a Conrad Hilton, who he notes was a gentleman who had not put in much time at sea. I haven't confirmed this yet, but THE Conrad Hilton, Jr. did join the Navy around this time, and would have likely been an officer.

• He fought off kamikazes diving at US merchant ships. In one tale, a kamikaze had broken through the first line of defense, and broken through the Air Force and was circling his war ship. As it dove to crash his ship, he fired upon it with a 20 millimeter cannon. The plane flew so close to him that he could see the pilot slumped over as it flew past, crashing a mere 70 yards away. 

The fear from this moment was so intense, much of his hair turned gray in the young man's mane, and the gray hair fell out. The soldiers he saved bought him endless drinks, despite being younger than 21.

• John was honorably discharged from the Navy, but returned to the 101st Airborne Division.

• John was manning a .50 caliber when an assistant reported a sniper  firing at them. He exchanged fire with the North Korean sniper, realizing afterwards he (John) had been shot—a bullet grazed his nose and exploded behind him during the gunfight. 

• He survived being a POW for nearly 3 years, seeing 1600 captured men die and tossed over a hillside into a grave by the Chinese army. When they were finally released in a prisoner exchange, rumblings from the POWs started making it up the ranks:

John Luttrell saved them.

John had become the de facto leader among the captured because he fearlessly refused to allow the Chinese to break his spirits, even when they grinded a pistol between his eyes.

When leadership asked John about it, he humbly said he felt some men did not have a code of conduct in mind, leading to them being brainwashed. When he realized what was happening, he began coaching his fellow POWs on how to stay strong.

John was asked to craft a Code of Conduct for POWs, which was adopted & published in 1953 & taught to military servicemen and women. When John crafted this book 50 years later, the Code of Conduct was still in use.

———

I am grateful to the service of John Luttrell, and others in my family who have served. I'm grateful to those of you reading this, many of whom I call friend, for your service. 

I know America has its problems, but this is still the best country in the world and it's because of the sacrifice that has become before today.

To our veterans. 🥃 🇺🇸

Honoring John Luttrell: A Veteran's Story

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