Book tells of Littleton SEAL's final battle

John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 14, 2007 at midnight

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A new book details the story of a ferocious battle in the mountains of Afghanistan in which Navy SEAL Danny P. Dietz, of Littleton, was killed along with 18 comrades.

Lone Survivor - The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10, is co-written by Marcus Luttrell, who led Dietz and two other Navy SEALs on an ill-fated reconnaissance mission June 28, 2005, when their team was surrounded.

Only Luttrell survived. Within hours, eight other SEALs and eight soldiers from the Army's Night Stalkers unit were killed when the Special Forces helicopter carrying them at reinforcement was hit by enemy fire and crashed.

Dietz, 25, was a graduate of Heritage High School. A statue in his memory is scheduled to be unveiled July 4 in a Littleton park.

In the book, Luttrell writes about Dietz, who was stationed with him at a training school in Panama City, Fla., on Sept. 11, 2001.

Dietz was the last-minute replacement on a team whose mission was to help capture or kill an al-Qaida leader in a Taliban stronghold near the Pakistani border, Luttrell writes.

"I was glad to have Danny on the team," he wrote.

"He was a little reserved, but underneath he could be very funny and was a sweet-natured person. It was not a great plan to upset him, though. Danny Dietz was a caged tiger and a great Navy SEAL."

Cindy Dietz said she has read the book, and while doing so was difficult, she is pleased with what Luttrell wrote.

She already had read the Navy's report of the battle but said there were new details, such as when Luttrell writes of her son dying in his arms.

"Marcus did a wonderful job," she said Wednesday, referring to the book.

"He's an amazing young man. I love him as my own son."

ensslinj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5291

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