Col. Lee Ellis, a Vietnam War veteran and prisoner of war, visited campus Thursday evening as part of the ASI Distinguished Lecture Series. Col. Ellis was held prisoner in Hanoi, Vietnam from 1967 until 1972 when he returned to the United States as a war hero.
Ellis’s speech, titled “Leading with Honor,” was about his imprisonment and the qualities that make a good leader. Dr. Bob Reely, director of the American Studies Institute, said that was precisely why Col. Ellis was asked to speak in the series.
“You don’t hear the word honor much anymore,” Reely said. “He’s got a good message and a great story.”
Ellis talked about his five years in captivity, the condition of the camp where he was imprisoned, communication with his fellow soldiers and the faith that gave him the courage he needed to survive.
“I was alive and God had a purpose for me,” Ellis said in his speech on Thursday. “I had to live up to my part of it.”
Ellis also talked about what it takes to be a good leader. The key components, he said, were to know yourself, commit to your values, honor God and be resilient.
“If you want to be a good leader, you have to be willing to suffer,” Ellis said. “There is no honor without courage.”
Dr. Williams, professor in the college of business and fellow veteran of the Vietnam War, understood the difficulty of the war.
“If there’s any disservice to Vietnam, it’s that Americans didn’t really get how bad it was,” Williams said. “You’ll find that most people who went to Vietnam, especially those with boots on the ground, don’t talk about it very much.”
Reely agreed that while Vietnam was not the most popular war, it still can be educational and produced its own set of heroes.
“It’s a great history lesson because the Vietnam War was well before any students were born,” Reely said. “The war was pretty controversial, but one thing I think most people can agree on is that Col. Ellis is one of the true heroes.”
The next speaker in the ASI Distinguished Lecture Series will be former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens on Nov. 13.
