Onward To Valhalla is a true and accurate account of the incredible life and and distinguished military career of Leif Bangsboll, the Danish-American, sailor, aviator, soldier and secret agent.

To do justice to the complexities of the stories that make up this book, it is important to acknowledge the many important relationships (both formal and informal) and the array of stakeholders that helped to complete Leif's story.

Below are some of the essential organizations, military units and museums dedicated to preserving history for future generations to study and appreciate.

Leif Bangsboll was proud of his accomplishments, but he always noted that he could not have achieved what he did alone and was so very proud of his career affiliations and the friendships that grew out of them.

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society honors the historic accomplishments of the OSS during World War II. The OSS was the first organized effort by the United States to implement a centralized system of strategic intelligence, and the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Special Operations Command, and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. It educates the American public regarding the continuing importance of strategic intelligence and special operations to the preservation of freedom. The OSS Society was founded in 1947 by General William Donovan as the Veterans of OSS. It was based in New York City for 50 years. In 1997, it became The OSS Society and moved to Washington, D.C.

The OSS Society led a successful effort to have a Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the OSS. The OSS Congressional Gold Medal Act was signed into law on December 14, 2016, and was presented at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. It led another successful effort to have the OSS and original CIA headquarters on Navy Hill in Washington, D.C., added to the National Register of Historic Places. It hosts the William J. Donovan Award® Dinner, the preeminent annual gathering of the U.S. intelligence and special operations communities. The OSS Society has established OSS memorials throughout the United States and in Europe. It publishes The OSS Society Journal. The OSS Society is planning to build the National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations® that will honor Americans who have served at the “tip of the spear” and inspire future generations to serve their country.

Mr. Charles Pinck is the President of the OSS Society and is the literary agent for Onward to Valhalla.

The OSS Society is an American charitable organization. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. To learn more about the history of the OSS and the many worthy endeavors currently underway, visit www.OSSSociety.org

Camp X was the Allies' top-secret World War II spy training facility, located in Canada on the shores of Lake Ontario. The Camp X official site (www.camp-x.com) is dedicated to maintaining Canada's history and heritage. Chapters 5, 6 and 8 of Onward to Valhalla (Preparing for War in the Shadows, A Chance Encounter and Escape and Evasion) describe Leif Bangsboll's fascinating and challenging experience as an OSS agent undergoing training at the top-secret installation in 1943.

The vast majority of Leif Bangsboll's military career revolved around unconventional or special operations. He was a pioneer in the development of the U.S. Special Forces and Green Berets and to their credit those who followed in his footsteps had the wherewithal to recognize his and other special forces/special operations heroes. On April 18, 2019, Lieutenant Colonel Leif Bangsboll was posthumously inducted into the United States Special Operations Command's Commando Hall of Honor. See www.SOCOM.mil 

Leif Bangsboll was never prouder than when he became a paratrooper and part of the U.S. Army's Airborne elite. "All the Way" was the 82nd Airborne's battle cry and the 187th Airborne Regiment Combat Team's was "Rakkasans." Leif's combat tour in Korea with the 187th ARCT would involve some of the most dangerous and unique special operations of his career. Visit www.82ndairbornedivisionmuseum.com and www.armyhistory.org.

The Museum of Danish Resistance is located in Copenhagen, Denmark, and holds a large quantity of World War II related artifacts, weapons, documents and photographs that help depict Denmark's difficulties during the Nazi occupation (April 1939 - May 1945) and the rise of organized, armed resistance against the German occupiers. Both Leif and his father, Fredrik Bangsboll, are listed on the museum's database as members of the Danish Resistance. Visit www.en.natmus.dk

Today, only a memorial park remains in the place once known as Little Norway. Created at the outset of World War II, as Norwegians and Danes fled the overwhelming invasion of the German army, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan established dozens of training airfields across Canada to train Allied pilots. Little Norway, located at the Toronto Island Airport with auxiliary air fields in Orillia and Muskoka (north of Toronto), was where Flight Sergeant Leif Bangsboll earned his pilot wings. During a Mess Dinner at Little Norway in 1943, honoring the visit of Colonel Bill Donovan, Director of the United States' Office of Strategic Services (OSS), Leif Bangsboll, Danish-born, Norwegian Army-Air Force pilot was recruited into the OSS. Chapter 5 of Onward to Valhalla (entitled Preparing for War in the Shadows) describes Flight Sergeant Leif Bangsboll's experience at Little Norway.

Ryvangen Memorial Park was officially inaugurated as a World War II memorial on May 5, 1950, exactly five years to the day from which Lieutenant Leif Bangsboll, U.S. Army, AKA Agent Jorgen Bech of the Office of Strategic Services, successfully led 100 Danish freedom-fighters of the Resistance in the capture of the German garrison at Ryvangen.

Leif's leadership, audacious actions and courage in the face of the enemy that day would earn him the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest medal bestowed by the United States Army. Ryvangen Memorial Park is now a beautiful, yet stirringly somber memorial to the brave men and women of the Danish Resistance and a tribute to the hundreds who were imprisoned and executed by the Nazis at Ryvangen garrison during the war. Chapter 13 of Onward to Valhalla (The Road to Ryvangen) describes in detail the events of the victory over the Germans at the Ryvangen garrison on May 5, 1945.