Surviving Hell. Leo Thorsness
Force, a commitment that led him into the horrors of a North Vietnam prison. His story will inspire you to do more. This book conveys the message that Leo has been taking to corporate executives, “Do What’s Right—Help Others (DWR-HO),” and the lesson he teaches America’s children about the “4 F’s: Faith, Family, Friends, Fun.” Surviving Hell shows how to frame your life for the better, regardless of the hand you’ve been dealt. Leo did it; you can too!
—Tom Matthews, president, Medal of Honor Foundation; former president and CEO, Smith Barney Global Private Client Division
The human spirit is amazingly resilient! In this incredible story of one man’s deliverance from “hell on earth,” Leo Thorsness shows that he truly understands these words from the Bible: “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” Your heart will be stirred to sadness, then anger, then despair, and finally to hope as the journey home for Leo becomes a reality. This is an astounding account of God’s faithfulness to one man.
—Rev. Dale Seley, pastor, Downtown Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia
It is my high honor and privilege to be a close friend of the Thorsness family. Leo is a genuine hero who always demonstrates his love for America. Surviving Hell: A POW’s Journey is a reminder that freedom isn’t free, and an enduring tribute to those who made supreme sacrifices under the most intolerable conditions. After reading this book, you will never again think you are having a bad day.
—Bruce N. Whitman, president and CEO, FlightSafety International
One never knows the tests that the road of life will bring, but Surviving Hell demonstrates that the virtues of honor, courage, sacrifice—undergirded by an unshakable faith and the love of family—enable one to triumph even in the most unthinkable circumstances. As one who is privileged to know Col. Leo Thorsness and his wife, Gaylee, I am grateful for their willingness to share this story so that it may provide a beacon of hope and a guidebook for the rest of us on our life’s journey.
—David McIntyre, president and CEO, TriWest Healthcare Alliance
I first met Leo Thorsness at Spangdahlem, Germany, in 1960; but I really got to know him when I wrote the recommendation for his Medal of Honor in 1967. Leo is unique in combining the skills of an expert fighter pilot with a keen analytical ability. He developed tactics that allowed the Wild Weasels to accomplish our mission in North Vietnam and reduced our losses by over 50 percent. No one single person did more for those who flew to Hanoi. The United States Air Force owes Leo a huge debt, and I am personally in his debt because he gave me the tools to survive my forty-seven trips to Hanoi.
—Lt. Col. Billy R. Sparks, USAF (ret.)
Leo was the boss of our Wild Weasel SAM hunters, and if he was on our daily trip to Hanoi, it was no sweat. I saw him being shot down, and as I set up the rescue attempt and talked to him on his fragile survival radio, the last thing he said to me was “Get me out of here!” We could not, and thus began this remarkable story of skill, heroism, and bravery.
—Col. Jack Broughton, USAF (ret.)
Leo Thorsness describes the combat mission of a lifetime, which would earn him our nation’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor. But the exhilaration of aerial victories over enemy MiGs and coaxing the last measure of performance out of his fuel-thirsty “Thud” was followed in an instant by a low-tech experience that would deprive him of his freedom for six years. Thorsness will make you cry and make you laugh as he describes the highs and lows of his extended visit to a hell that most of us can hardly imagine. It would change his life forever.
—Lt. Gen. Nick Kehoe, USAF (ret.); president, Medal of Honor Foundation
I came away ... with renewed gratitude for our freedom, but also especially for great-souled men such as Thorsness. The sacrifices of such men, it cannot be recalled often enough, make us the land of the free because we’re also the home of the brave.
—Power Line Blog: John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, Paul Mirengoff
Gaylee, you are the love of my life. Thank you for your intelligence, grit, support, loyalty, beauty, and humor; for being my best friend; and for filling in as both mom and dad for our daughter, Dawn, from age 12 to 18.
Dawn, you turned out so beautiful, so moral, and so bright. I’ll work hard to make up the seven years I missed in your life.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
My experience in Southeast Asia was often traumatic. For the past 35 years, my mind has worked to process what happened. With the benefit of perspective, I wanted to write an account that would be helpful to people going through tough times. Time heals most things, and we are stronger than we think. I thank all who volunteer to serve in the military. During the swearing in, as you raise your hand pledging allegiance to the United States, you do not know the future: Your service may be anything between a hitch in Hawaii and years as a POW in a Hanoi hellhole.
A day never passes without a thought of one or more of the outstanding Americans I had the privilege of serving with as a POW in the most trying of times. Even harder to think about are the families who never found out about a missing-in-action husband or father or son. For some, it is 40 years, and they are still waiting. Bless you and may you find peace.
The years since prison were worth the wait. America, my family, and my friends have allowed me to be a corporate executive, a state senator, a husband of a wonderful woman for 55 years, the father of an outstanding daughter, and a grandfather of two bright, beautiful little girls. I’ve retired a couple of times. We have moved several times and found true friends each time. Most importantly, in the 35 years since my release from prison, I’ve never had a really bad day.
INTRODUCTION
Sitting in my office in downtown Minneapolis one beautiful summer day in 2008, I received a telephone call from Tom Steward, head of press relations for the office of John McCain’s presidential campaign in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tom asked me how I would like to meet a recipient of the Medal of Honor over lunch at the campaign office. I said that sounded great.
Arriving at the McCain office in St. Paul, I was introduced to Leo Thorsness. He was holding a small audience around a table in rapt attention. I vaguely recalled Thorsness as a Vietnam veteran who had narrowly lost a 1974 Senate race to George McGovern in the toxic aftermath of Watergate. That recollection proved accurate, but his record contains a few other items of interest.
He is a native Minnesotan, having been born into a farm family near Walnut Grove, and graduated from Walnut Grove High School in 1950. Walnut Grove is now known only as the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie, but it should also be known as the birthplace of the author of Surviving Hell.
Thorsness left Walnut Grove after high school to attend South Dakota State College, where he met his wife in the freshman registration line. In January 1951 he enlisted in the Air Force, and he graduated from pilot school in 1954. He was a career fighter pilot, reaching the rank of colonel and accumulating 5,000 hours of flying time.
Colonel Thorsness flew 92 and a half Wild Weasel missions over North Vietnam. He earned the Medal of Honor for a Wild Weasel mission he flew on April 19, 1967, eleven days before being shot down. He tells the story of what he calls his Medal of Honor Mission in Chapter 1 of this book, but the Air Force account also makes good reading:
Thorsness, then a major, was “Head Weasel” of the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhli Air Base in Thailand. On April 19, 1967, he and his backseater, Capt. Harold Johnson, fought a wild 50-minute duel with SAMs, antiaircraft guns and MiGs. They set out in a formation of four planes. Their target was an army compound near Hanoi, heavily defended.