The stories of Washingtonian war heroes going back to before World War I can now be found in a book released earlier this year.
“Beyond Belief: True Stories of Washington State Heroes that Defy Comprehension” is a compilation of the stories of more than 100 Washington U.S. service members — including some from Lewis and Thurston counties — and is the 12th book in the Beyond Belief series.
With Memorial Day less than a month away on Monday, May 27, The Chronicle is featuring veterans from Lewis and Thurston counties. This is the second article in the series. The first can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/2ue7wh2v. It features Edward Watson Leonard, Jr., a former Winlock resident.
This installment features the story of a former Chehalis resident who later moved to Thurston County.
The books are written by a team of authors led by C. Douglas Sterner, a U.S. Army combat engineer who was awarded two Bronze Star Medals and served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War. Now, Sterner is a self-published author of over 100 books on military history.
The Chronicle reached out to Sterner, who lives in Pueblo, Colorado, to find out more about his efforts.
“I recently signed up with the (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) … and they sent me to talk to a shrink,” Sterner said. “I said, ‘I never thought I had PTSD,’ and she said, ‘Well it’s my professional opinion that the reason you’re so driven to write all these stories of other heroes is how you’ve dealt with your PTSD.’ And who knows, she might be right.”
Writing is an art form, and since art can be used for therapy, Sterner has no plans to stop publishing books. Along with his books, Sterner has spent nearly 30 years creating a database for recipients of Distinguished Service Crosses, Distinguished Flying Crosses, Silver Star medals and other highly distinguished awards.
“I started doing this after I found out the services weren’t maintaining a comprehensive list of medal winners aside from Medal of Honor recipients,” Sterner said. “I have more than a quarter of a million citations in there of people who received high awards.”
It is from this database he is now pulling stories from award citations for the Beyond Belief book series.
Lewis Wiley Shattuck — more than six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam
Born on July 25, 1932, in Vancouver, Washington, Lewis Wiley Shattuck was raised in Chehalis.
He attended Chehalis High School and Centralia College before eventually settling in Yelm.
Shattuck enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1952. He entered the Aviation Cadet Program and received his officer commission and pilot wings in 1953. By the end of his Air Force career in 1976, he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross three times along with a Silver Star and two Bronze Star medals.
Following his Aviation Cadet Program graduation in 1953, Shattuck flew in various squadrons and fighter jets, including the F-86 Saber, the F-100 Super Saber and the F-105 Thunderchief.
In March 1966, as a captain, he was assigned as a Thunderchief pilot with the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron at the Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. Over his first four months, he flew 63 combat missions over Laos and Vietnam.
During that time, he earned his first Distinguished Flying Cross for completing a bombing run on the heavily fortified Yen Bay in North Vietnam on April 26, 1966.
Then, on June 29, 1966, Shattuck earned his second Distinguished Flying Cross during a mission near Hanoi, North Vietnam, where he braved heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire to destroy a petroleum storage facility.
Two days later, during a mission on July 1, his Thunderchief was crippled after being hit by enemy fire, but Shattuck managed to fly out 17 miles over the ocean before ejecting. He was rescued by U.S. forces.
Eleven days after that, while flying on a mission near Vu Chau, North Vietnam, Shattuck led a formation on a mission to destroy an important railway line between Vietnam and China.
Despite taking heavy fire while delivering his payload, Shattuck successfully hit his target, an action that earned him his third Distinguished Flying Cross.
“Navigating unerringly in mountainous terrain beneath a broken cloud deck, Captain Shattuck encountered intense anti-aircraft fire as he neared his pull-up point,” read an excerpt from Shattuck’s third Distinguished Flying Cross citation. “Despite this fire and heavy radar controlled anti-aircraft fire that tracked him throughout his delivery maneuver, Captain Shattuck fearlessly pressed his attack, achieving major damage to his target.”
The damage he took once again crippled his plane, and he was forced to eject for the second time in 11 days.
This time there was no friendly rescue. Shattuck was taken prisoner by enemy forces and spent more than six years — 2,409 days — in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war (POW) camp.
For his actions while a POW, adhering to the U.S. armed forces code of conduct and refusing to cooperate, he was awarded the Silver Star Medal along with two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals.
Shattuck was eventually released on Feb. 12, 1973, and retired from the Air Force three years later as a lieutenant colonel. Following his retirement, he and his wife returned to Yelm where he continued to fly with a local aerobatic group at regional air shows.
Along with the Washington state edition, Beyond Belief books are currently available for the states of Arizona, Alabama, Montana and Colorado. Sterner hopes to publish Oregon’s next. Ultimately, his goal is to have an edition for all 50 states.
“Oregon will be in June, and I’ll just keep on going from there as long as I can keep writing these stories,” Sterner said.
Other Beyond Belief books focus on stories of U.S. Navy sailors, U.S. Marines, military chaplains, civilian heroes, U.S. aviation heroes and military families.
Beyond Belief books featuring special operations missions and great escapes are also in the works, Sterner added.
All of Sterner’s work is available on Amazon in both print and digital form. For more information, visit https://www.herobooks.org/.
To access Sterner’s medal recipient database, visit https://homeofheroes.com/.
