Andrew Linn, 28, was skewered by the pole after he fell asleep at the wheel and veered off the road before hitting a chain-link fence.
Emergency personnel said a pole on top of the fence smashed through the windscreen and tore through the father-of-two's face just below the right side of his nose.
It ripped out his teeth before exiting the back of his neck and slamming through the back window.
Rescuers had to cut the pole to get him out of the car and into an ambulance.
Mr Linn, from Las Vegas, could not lie down because of the pole protruding his skull, so he sat up on the ride to the hospital and through his initial surgery.
The business marketing student at Southern Utah University has no memory of his brush with death.
"I don't know exactly what happened because I don't have any memory of it," he said.
"A pipe from a chain link fence came through the windshield, went through my face and then came out the back. It came out the back of the car actually too, I found out later on.
"The pipe was long and came through my face...so...it's a bad thing, you never want to have to go through that."
The accident happened when Mr Linn and his wife and two children were driving home for Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas five months ago.
Doctors in the trauma unit at the city's University Medical Centre said it was a miracle he survived.
The medical team was led by Dr Jay Coates - the same surgeon who saved magician Roy Horn's life after he was dragged offstage by a tiger in 2003.
"If that pole had gone another centimetre in either direction Andrew would not be here now," Dr Coates said.
Mr Linn said he had already survived a tour of Iraq and another car crash where a drink driver smashed into the back of him.
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