Two years ago this month, the Luttrell family of Willis was hoping against all odds that their son Marcus was still alive.

Marcus was part of an elite four-member Navy Seal team.  He had been dropped into the mountains of northeaster Afghanistan – deep in Al Qaeda territory.

While on a recon mission, his team had a fateful encounter with two goat herders.

“Once we released them, they went and got a Taliban army and came back … And the war was on,” Luttrell said.

The battle is detailed in a book by Luttrell out this week, aptly titled “Lone Survivor.” 

Not only did every other member of his team die, so did 16 crew members of a helicopter who were blasted out of the sky as they tried to rescue his team.

“The newspapers reported that I was dead. And they told my mother that I was dead. Unfortunately, as the days progressed, they were beginning to believe that,” Luttrell said.

Wounded by gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade, Luttrell evaded the Taliban for two days before being rescued by villagers who risked their own lives to protect him.

“By the end of my time there, the kids were coming into my room to pray. They would ask me if they could come in to pray, and I was like, hell, I’ll get on a knee and pray too. Sounds like a good idea right now, ‘cause the Taliban, they’re coming in every day to try and get me,” Luttrell said.

Six days later he was rescued, and two years later he’s telling his story.

A story from a forgotten war that Luttrell says is written in blood.