Farewell to a solider

In May 1964, a helicopter dropped me off in a paddy field in the U Minh Forest of South Vietnam. As was my custom, I immediately set off to find an American. In The Only War We've Got, I described him as 'a grizzled man in drenched fatigues, with three or four days' growth of beard on his chin, and no rank or insignia except the crossed-bayonet emblem of the Vietnamese Rangers. He also wore the Rangers' rust-brown beret, with a tattered towel beneath it to keep the sun from burning his neck.... I honestly wasn't sure whether he was an American advisor or a soldier of fortune, perhaps a French sergeant who'd stayed on to join the Vietnamese army.'

He proved to be Sgt William Sindledecker of Spring Lake, North Carolina. Many years later, I got an email from his daughter, who had seen this photo in the book. She told me that he'd resigned from the army he loved in order to could bring up his daughters, who were alone in the world after their mother divorced him. The meetings that the internet makes possible!

This morning I heard from her again, to say that the old soldier died January 13 from an aneurysm. 'He was healthy, happy and strong,' she wrote. 'His passing was fast, which is what he would have wanted. I promise you when I say the man never stopped living. He was full of life and love for his family and friends.' His obituary is here. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford