Captured by Love: Inspiring True Romance Stories from Vietnam POWs

by Lee Ellis, Greg Godek, Gary Sinise (Foreword by), Tony Orlando (Foreword by)

Overview

Amazon Best Seller in Military Families and Survival Biographies & Memoirs

2023 International Book Awards Finalist in Best Nonfiction Cover Design
2023 International Book Awards Finalist in Best Interior Design
2023 International Book Awards Finalist in Military History

2023 Best Book Award Finalist in Military History

2023 Foreword Reviews Indies FINALIST in War & Military

2024 Georgia Author of the Year Awards Nominee – Inspirational Category

Experience 20 Romance Stories of Top Gun POWs
Captured by Love shares the inspiring romance and love stories of POWs who returned from the
Vietnam War after five, six, seven and even eight years of incarceration and mistreatment in the
infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison system. Can you imagine many long years isolated from your country,
your family, and especially your wife? Imagine being locked up in cells with male combat
veterans for 2,000 or more days. Those hardships are what make these successful romance
stories so special. But they have never been told.

Upon our return home, we stayed somewhat connected through military assignments but mostly
through hanging out at our NamPOW reunions. It was during those events that I heard more and
more of the guys telling stories about how they met their wives, and how great their marriages
were.  Many of these stories were so amazing that even Hollywood screenwriters could not
dream up or dare make up such incredible examples of romance, love, and marriage
success! How ironic that the POWs physical and mental suffering and years of separation actually
helped them create great romance and lasting love.

You’ll be swept up into some extraordinary tales such as:

• Carole boldly gave her husband’s POW-MIA bracelet to John Wayne—he wore it for years!
• Pan Am stewardess Suzy wore a bracelet for POW Bill Bailey, whom she did not know. But she prayed for him daily, and miraculously met and married him when he came home.
• After eight years in prison, one POW said to his wife in his first phone call upon his release,“Hi Jane. It’s Tarzan.” You will laugh and cry when you learn why.

Former POW Lee Ellis and love expert Greg Godek take you on a dramatic journey of faithfulness,
passion, excitement, resilience, and practical love lessons from these couples.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733632232
Publisher:	FreedomStar Media
Publication date:	05/30/2023
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	425,649
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lee Ellis is Founder and President of Leadership Freedom® LLC and FreedomStar Media®. He is an award-winning author, leadership coach, and expert presenter in the areas of leadership, teambuilding, and human performance. His past clients include Fortune 500 senior executives and C-Level leaders in telecommunications, healthcare, military, and other business sectors. Some of his media appearances include interviews on networks such as CNN, CBS This Morning, C-SPAN, ABC World News, Fox News Channel, plus hundreds of engagements in various industry sectors throughout the world.

Early in his career, Lee served as an Air Force fighter pilot flying fifty-three combat missions over North Vietnam. In 1967, he was shot down and held as a POW for more than five years in Hanoi and surrounding camps. For his wartime service, he was awarded two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Valor device, the Purple Heart, and POW Medal. Lee resumed his Air Force career, serving in leadership roles of increasing responsibility including command of a flying squadron and leadership development organizations before retiring as a colonel.

Lee has a BA in History and a MS in Counseling and Human Development. He is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and the Air War College. He has authored or co-authored five books on leadership and career development. Lee’s last book entitled Leading with Honor®: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton has received multiple awards since its release including Winner in the 2012 International Book Awards in the Business and Management Category, and selection on the 2013 U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Reading List. His last book is entitled "Engage with Honor: Building a Culture of Courageous Accountability", and his latest book is entitled "Leadership Behavior DNA: Discovering Natural Talents and Managing Differences."

Lee and his wife Mary reside in the Atlanta GA area and have four grown children and six grandchildren.

Greg Godek. Co-Author. Jay Leno joked about Greg Godek’s first book in his monologue: “There’s a new book called ‘1001 Ways to be Romantic.’ That’s an awful lot of ways! I mean, guys—if the first thousand ways don’t work…what are the chances she’s gonna stick around when you say, ‘Oh wait! One more!’?!” Appearances on “The Today Show” and articles in “The Sunday New York Times” and “Cosmo,” plus his record-breaking booksigning tour (two years aboard a custom RV, visiting 287 bookstores in 43 states) made Greg’s book a #1 bestseller, with three million copies sold.

Greg’s first dozen books were creative romps through romantic love. But his latest book, coauthored with Top Gun pilot and Vietnam POW Col. Lee Ellis, has taken his work into deeper and more profound waters. “With Captured by Love we had the unexpected insight that the same skills and beliefs that allowed our POWs to survive inhumane treatment and unspeakable tortures—over five to eight years—are the same skills and beliefs that are necessary for couples to create what we call ‘Happily Ever After Marriages’. I feel honored to have been given the opportunity to interview 20 couples and widows and widowers (between the ages of 78 and 94) who have lived extraordinary lives and have created some the strongest and happiest marriages I have come across in more than 40 years of relationship work.”

Greg’s guiding conviction is that love is an emotion, while romance is an action. “Without action, love is merely a nice idea.” Looking back on his life, career and passion, he observes that, “My life has pretty much been a living laboratory exploring and experiencing the joys and sorrows of couplehood.” Through the writing of Captured by Love, coauthors Greg and Lee were delighted to see a series of “Love Lessons” emerge organically from the love stories they were capturing for posterity.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“When the POWs were released and coming home in the winter of 1973, my group Dawn and I had just released a new song, ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Ole Oak Tree.’ What I have cherished but didn't anticipate is a 50-year relationship with these couples. Enjoy these dramatic and touching stories about my friends, and I hope that you’re as inspired as I was long ago.”
– Tony Orlando, Top-Selling Recording Artist, Songwriter, Concert Headliner, Network Television Star, Motion Picture Actor, Broadway Performer, and Author

“Most readers will experience a few tears here, but also lots of laughter as they engage with these stories. The stunning level of pain and sacrifice that our POWs endured is mind-boggling, but the love and romance that they have experienced is even more extraordinary! You’ll be entertained, inspired, surprised, challenged–and hopefully moved to action–by this great book.”
– Gary Sinise, Actor, Musician, and Founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation

“The principles learned through the struggles of the war actually brought them closer together. Read this book and be inspired to strengthen your relationship, too.”
– John Gray, Relationship Counselor, Lecturer, and Author of Beyond Mars and Venus: Relationship Skills for Today’s Complex World

“Authors Lee and Greg skillfully highlight the stories and valuable lessons of these heroic men and women using empathy and historical context.”
– Heath Hardage Lee, Author of The League of Wives

“I was totally captivated and inspired by Captured by Love. It’s one of the best books about love, marriage and faith that I have read.”
– Dr. Ted Baehr, Founder and Publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®

“There are well over 1,000 books about the Vietnam War, but this is the only one that gathers the inspirational and sometimes heartbreaking love stories of 20 former POWs.”
– LeAnn Thieman, Nurse, Author, and Speaker Hall of Fame Inductee