Foreward and Testimonials for Onward to Valhalla

Many sons have written books about their fathers, but few have had such a richness of substance or strength of impact to convey as Brook Bangsboll.

Brook’s father, Army Lieutenant Colonel Leif Bangsboll, himself the son of a Danish Navy Admiral, was an accomplished man who lived a fascinating life. Leif Bangsboll was born in Denmark, served in the Danish Navy, the Norwegian Air Force, the Office of Strategic Services and the United States Army. His story is one of heroic actions in two wars and important service as an original member of the Army’s Green Berets.

Brook was too young to understand his father’s impact until after all of this had occurred. But as he got older, he realized that Leif’s life as a sailor, soldier and spy was worthy of his fullest admiration and respect. He learned that at one point, Leif had started to write his autobiography but didn’t get very far. By writing this book, Brook is telling the story that he wished his father had written.

Leif Bangsboll’s story gets better with each chapter, and Brook has done a masterful job in creating this narrative. Written more than 20 years after his father’s death in 2001, Brook has crafted a book in which the main story line and all major events are true and verified, but many of the details are constructed from the recollections of himself and others, augmented by written accounts in various forms. The result is a like an historical novel – both factual and inspired by grand memories. It is well-researched, informative and entertaining.

I never knew Leif Bangsboll but as a former Navy SEAL officer and descendant of Norsemen, I felt a special link to him. I dove into this book and read it with ever-growing awe. It is, simply, a son’s wonderful account of his legendary father, told with both loving care and attention to its historical significance. Brook also connects the reader to his father’s Viking ancestry, sure that retired Lieutenant Colonel Leif Bangsboll resides in the Halls of Valhalla, where the most courageous of Vikings live forever as celebrated heroes. 

In life, Leif Bangsboll was awarded the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star Medal, his adopted nation’s second and third highest awards for valor against the enemy. In death, he has been acclaimed with awards and distinctions by both the Army’s Special Forces and the United States Special Operations Command – two organizations that trace their roots directly back to the secretive Office of Strategic Services in which Leif Bangsboll served so heroically. 

And now he is honored by his son, Brook Bangsboll, in an opus that merits all of our careful attention. I salute both the father and the son.

Admiral Eric Thor Olson, 

United States Navy (Retired) -

Former Commander of the United States

Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)