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Former POW touts McCain
Forsyth man recalls captivity with GOP hopeful
By Jennifer Sami
Staff Writer
At 23, Air Force Col. Lee
Ellis was flying on his 53rd
combat mission. It was where
he wanted to be.
But things took a terrible
turn when his plane was hit in
1967 on the trip back from
North Vietnam.
- It blew up into three pieces
and just went tumbling along,”
he said. “My life didn’t flash in
front of me at that point.
It was when he landed and
the armed militia began popping
up, that Ellis knew he wouldn’t
return to safety.
Even affer the fall, Ellis was
it in really good shape,” he told
Forsyth County Republicans
during a weekly party meeting
Tuesday night. “McCain almost
died.”
Ellis, who now lives in
Windermere in Forsyth County,
was referring to likely
Republican presidential nomi¬
nee John McCain, a Navy pilot
shot down around the same
time.
Though the two didn’t meet
until the later months of the war.
■ We went in (as prisoners of
war] about the same time,” he
said.
“We came out about 20 feet
apart on the day that we were
released — March 14, 1973.”
Through their experiences as
prisoners of war, Ellis said he
learned a great deal about the
candidate’s character, prepara¬
tion, commitment, courage and
leadership.
Those five qualities, he said,
are crucial for a presidential
candidate and all are characteris¬
tics of McCain, who will face
off against likely Democratic
presidential nominee Barack
Obama.
[McCain] knows who he is
and lives from the inside out,”
Ellis said. “He doesn’t dance to
anybody’s drum but his. He
goes by his values and what he
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About 50 people attended
Tuesday night’s gathering,
which local GOP officials said
they organized to offer insight
into McCain’s life and candida
cy.
Among the guests were
District 23 state Rep. Mark
Hamilton of Cunnning, District
27 state Sen. Jack Murphy of
Cumming and District 9
Congressman Nathan Deal of
Gainesville, all Republican lead¬
ers from the 9th congressional
district.
Ellis, a 9th Congressional
District alternate representative
at the upcoming 2008
Republican National Con¬
vention, talked about his experi¬
ence as a prisoner of war, which
began when he arrived Nov. 22,
1967, at the Hanoi Hilton.
He and three others shared a
6.5-foot-by-7-foot room for the
next eight months.
“They had guards out there
patrolling,” he said. “If they
caught you talking to somebody
else, they’d just take you out,
beat you up and put you in soli-
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Retired Airforce Col. Lee
Ellis explains the tap code
used by prisoners of war in
Vietnam to communicate
through walls.
tary confinement.”
Ellis talked about the tap
code he learned, which he joked
was “kind of like text messag
ing. We’d have all these short
cuts.”
“We were able to communi
cate very well and this literally
kept people from going insane,”
he said.
“The most prominent mes¬
sage probably that was ever
tapped was ‘W-N-U-T-K we go
home’-when do you think we go
home? Well, we always believed
we’d go home, no matter where
we were.
I can remember the day
when I, initially, could only
accept six months. It was fall of
1967 and I said I’ll be home for
the Olympics in 1968 in
Mexico City and I’m going to
go
‘That’s what’s going to hap¬
pen. Well, it didn’t happen. So a
couple of years later, I thought,
‘You know what, I’m going to
be here at least another year.’
And then I remember a time
when I said I could handle two
more years. M
In total, Ellis spent more
than five years imprisoned.
It was during the last few
months in the Plantation prison
camp when Ellis got to learn
more about McCain than what
he’d heard through tapping and
other prisoners.
“That’s where we really got
to know each other,” he said.
“The situation he was in was
very unique.
“He was offered the chance
to go home and to tell the mean
est interrogator in Hanoi ... ‘I’m
not doing it.’ The guy came
around the table and just
smashed him and tells his
guards to beat him up and then
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS 14,2008
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Photos/Jennifer Sami
Ellis tells the story of his capture, using vivid detail
even accents for the general who told him to "sur
no die.
put him in solitary confinement
for two years, and then beat him
up some more. That’s the kind
of person we’re talking about —
that kind of commitment to
character. * •
Ellis, who has four children
and six grandchildren, called
McCain’s commitment to his
country inspiring. Just like lead
ership in the Armed Forces,
leadership in any capacity
always makes a difference.”
• • Nothing happens for very
long without leadership,” he
said. “Somebody’s got to take
the lead and take the responsi
bility arid put it on the line and
PAGE 3A
make it happen.
Yeah, |McCain] was a
playboy when he was young.
Most fighter pilots are. He’s
been such a good model solid
citizen since he came home and
I’ve just been really proud of
him.
We have to use every bit of
influence we have to get him
elected this fall, or I can’t imag¬
ine what it’s going to be. I want
you to aim high, I want you to
see it and believe it that John
McCain is going to be the presi¬
dent this fall.”
E-mail Jennifer Sami at jen
nifersami@forsythnews.com.