Grandpa In War

Marshall Independent - Marshall, MN, USA

By Cindy Votruba
POSTED: February 13, 2009


If the doorknob is on the inside, Leo Thorsness said he's having a good day.

Thorsness, a 1950 Walnut Grove High School graduate, had his first book "Surviving Hell" published last summer. It details the lessons he learned from serving in the Vietnam War and being a prisoner of war in Hanoi for six years.

Thorsness served in the Air Force for 23 years, retiring as a colonel in 1973 and received the Air Force Medal of Honor. He was also a Washington State senator.

Thorsness said the book started out as a letter to his granddaughters, ages 8 and 10, telling what "grandpa did in the war."

"And I couldn't stop," Thorsness said. "It went on and on."

Thorsness went into the Air Force in 1951 and earned his commission through the Aviation Cadet program.

"My motor skills were good, so flying came easy," Thorsness said. "They actually paid me to fly fighter airplanes."

Thorsness was 15 years into his military service when he went to serve in Vietnam.

"Vietnam became my war," Thorsness said.

He was captured when his plane was shot down and became a prisoner of war in Hanoi.

"I enjoyed my job a lot until I got shot down," Thorsness said.

Thorsness had a well-known bunkmate in POW camp, 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

"John and I lived together for a couple of years, same cell," Thorsness said.

Thorsness jokingly said that McCain "lived with him" in the POW camp.

"I got there first," Thorsness said. "When you raise your hand to go to the military, you never know where you're going to end up."

Thorsness said he was two years older than the average POW and got out when he was 41 years old.

"We were a mature group," Thorsness said.

When he decided to write a book, Thorsness was doing speaking engagements in the corporate world about his experiences as a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

"Enough years had gone by that I had a perspective on it," Thorsness said.

He said being a POW can relate to the business world, and the book is about how to get through tough times.

"People are stronger, more resilient physically and mentally than they think they are," Thorsness said. "If you learn about getting through those tough times, you are going to be stronger and more prepared."

And Thorsness has followed that advice since 1973, the year he got out of POW camp.

"Since I've been home, I've never had a bad day," Thorsness said. "If the doorknob is on the inside, it's a good day."

The book is only 132 pages long and written as short essays, Thorsness said.

"I wrote it tight enough, so 'hey, there's a lesson here,'" Thorsness said.

Thorsness had 10,000 copies of the book printed and is set to have a second printing.