At Home – by Rudy Gray

Several weeks ago, I had the privilege to meet and talk with a remarkable Christian man. Retired Colonel Ben Purcell and his wife Anne run a Christmas tree farm in Clarksville, Ga. They are devout believers with a sense of humor. A lady once came to his business for a Christmas tree. They let her pick out the one she wanted and then cut it down. As they traveled back, the lady asked, “Now is this tree fresh?” He assured her it was.

Rudy Gray

Colonel Purcell was held in a Vietnam prison for five and a half years. During his incarceration, he tried to escape twice. During the long days, he worked with whatever he could find to create things. He made a communion set out of used tubes of toothpaste.

Captured in 1968, he was released in 1973. During that time, his wife worked diligently to make sure our POWs were not forgotten. In 1971, she was chosen as the Fort Benning Military Wife of the Year. They have now been married more than 57 years. Anne says, “When all we had was God, we found that God was sufficient for all our needs.”

While in captivity, he was pressured to offer false testimony. He refused. In fact, he would not even admit to the enemy that he was a prisoner of war, choosing to refer to himself as a prisoner at war.

When he left for Vietnam, he left a wife and five children. When he returned, America had changed drastically and his kids had grown significantly. One of them says their family was not just reconnected but had to be rebuilt following his return.

In 1993, he returned to Vietnam and met with some people who were his enemies during the war. He and his daughter Joy were able to observe communion together while there. They used a slab of concrete from Colonel Purcell’s prison as a communion table.

It has been written of him that he was willing to risk execution in the name of liberty and God. His children recognize him as a man who has lived with a sense of duty and a commitment to family based on his commitment to God.

Thank God for people like Colonel Purcell. It was indeed a privilege for me to spend some time with him.