“He Lived Three Lives”
An obituary of a Vietnam Veteran has become a viral sensation, and for good reason. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking tribute to an honorable man, who so many can relate to…
“Not everyone who lost his life in Vietnam died there.” The saying is true for CW2 William C. Ebeltoft. He died on December 15, 2019 at the Veteran’s Home in Columbia Falls, Montana. He died 50 years after he lost, in Vietnam, all that underpinned his life. He was 73 years old. (
click here
to read the full obituary)
In this podcast: The author of the obituary, Paul Ebeltoft, William’s brother, joins KFGO to talk about his brother and the response to the obituary.
Ebeltoft describes his brother as having three lives: before, during and after Vietnam.
During Vietnam, he lived with horrors of which he would only seldom speak. Slow Motion Four, Bill’s personal call sign, logged thousands of helicopter flight hours performing Forward Support Base resupply landings, medical evacuations, exfils and gun ship runs. We know of him there mostly through medals for valor he received, and these were many. (
click here
to read the full obituary)
The shockingly candid tribute is one that has garnered tens-of-thousands of views and accolades. The Washington Post, NPR and other national news outlets have all written stories about it.
He devoted hours to writing about the older brother he loved, hoping to capture “the real person” in a way that traditional obituaries often do not.
It was important to him not to shy away from the havoc Vietnam had wreaked. He worried that the lessons of the past might be lost — that America continues sending its youths off to endless combat without an exit strategy, even after those who fought in Vietnam “suffered so much because of politicians who never knew them.” (
click here
to read more)
William Ebeltoft
(Photo courtesy of Stevenson Funeral Home, Inc. & Crematory)
Additional content:
WATCH: Vietnam Vets Tell Their Stories
“19 Years Old” – a song about Vietnam, by: Shaun Schipper
Jon Hovde, Nam Vet. “Left For Dead-A Second Life After Viet Nam.”
(Amy Iler & JJ Gordon are talk-show hosts at 790 AM KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. “It Takes 2 with Amy & JJ” can be heard weekdays 11am-2pm. Check out the show page on
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