(LifeSiteNews) — Joining me on this episode of The John Henry Westen Show is Captain Guy Gruters, an Air Force veteran who was held for five years as a POW during the Vietnam War. We discussed the tortures he endured as a POW, how his experiences led him to trust in God and embrace his Catholic faith, and more.
After briefly describing what led him to join the Air Force and volunteer to fight in Vietnam, I asked Gruters about his spiritual preparation for the war. Gruters explained that while he attended Catholic school, he wasn’t living out his faith before going to Vietnam.
“I had five years in a Catholic school in northern New Jersey, but I just would like to emphasize that although we were taught very well by the nuns there about our faith and (were taught) the Baltimore Catechism … I didn’t really believe that God was with you every second,” Gruters said. “I knew that God was there, and I believed in Him, and I believed that He was in church, but I just felt as a scientist, I was an engineer, that there’s no way in the world that God can be with each individual.”
“I sort of thought that you were on your own, and that you really don’t have His help on a moment-by-moment or day-by-day basis,” he added.
Gruters explained that his lack of faith would all change in Vietnam. He described how he was shot down, captured, and held at the notorious Hanoi Hilton POW camp for over five years. Then Gruters stressed the gruesome tortures he was forced to endure in the camp, similar to what those held in the Soviet gulags experienced, because these camps were run by governments without any kind of morality.
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“They kept us in these concrete cells, (with) no windows, doors, books, magazines, radio, TV, nothing. It’s like you’re put in a concrete coffin,” he said. “And those first two-and-a-half years were like that. You’re basically in a concrete cell, no way of looking out, and … you’re not allowed to write letters telling your wife you’re alive or anything like that. And you’re not allowed to get (letters) from your families.”
“It (was) really like you’re put in a coffin, and they can torture you for information, beat you at will, and so on,” he added.
A bit later, Gruters explained that after being constantly tortured and watching a good friend tortured to death by their captors, he developed a hatred towards them, which led to demonic spirits starting to speak to him.
“Over a period of months, that led into literally evil spirits talking to me, trying to talk me into suicide or getting even with (my captors) and thinking of ways I could torture them back, which effectively resulted in addiction, believe it or not, to hatred and anger,” he said. “I became blind to the terrible sin of hatred, which is Satan himself … (since) God is love Himself.”
Gruters emphasized that in addition to the vindictive thoughts, he was also bombarded with suicidal thoughts. Eventually he realized that these thoughts couldn’t be from God, and by His grace he discovered that the suicidal thoughts were the result of his hatred.
READ: Veteran’s near-death experience: a journey of faith, war, and divine intervention
At first Gruters thought he could fight the demons on his own, but he soon realized he could only overcome them by the grace of God.
“I (said) to myself, ‘Okay, I’m going to stop hating … I’m going to fight these devils and tell them, get out of my life!’ So I did that for a couple of weeks, it didn’t get any better, it just got worse,” he said.
“So I got on my knees and I asked the Lord … ‘Lord, what can I do?’ And to my mind came, ‘Well, try to say the Rosary,’” he added.
Guthers didn’t remember how to pray the Rosary, but he did recall that a 15-decade Rosary consisted of 150 Hail Marys and 15 Our Fathers, so he began to recite those prayers each day.
“And three months later, I was literally praying for my enemies,” he said. “I wanted every one of them, including the torturers … to go to heaven.”
To hear the full incredible story of Captain Guy Gruters, tune in to this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show.
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