The Fight for Life

By William T. Elliott

WILLIAM ELLIOTT was born on September 23, 1951, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During his childhood, he was interested in baseball. He was also interested in science. He won first prize in a science fair for building a Geiger counter. He had a paper route as his first job. He was in junior high school when desegregation took place. He remembers playing baseball in his neighborhood with both African American and Caucasian children.
In 1966, William and his family moved to Hot Springs, South Dakota. His family consisted of his mom, dad, three sisters, and one brother. He completed his high school education in Hot Springs. During high school, he was athletic and was involved in track and field. He graduated from high school in 1969. After high school, William took two years of college at Northern State College. Then in 1972 he joined the air force. He was primarily stationed at Altus Air Force Base in Altus, Oklahoma, and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He was honorably discharged from the air force in 1975.
William completed his BS degree in environmental science in 1977. During college, he met Nancy Rempfer, whom he married in June of 1976. He later completed a master’s in business administration from the University of South Dakota in December of 1984. His work experience includes being a health inspector for the state of South Dakota; a business manager for the Cheyenne River Community College in Eagle Butte South Dakota; a business and computer instructor at Little Hoop Community College in Ft. Totten, North Dakota; taught small business management at National American University in Rapid City, South Dakota; then took a position at Oglala Lakota College teaching computer science and business, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. William lost his wife of nearly 41 years in 2017. He is retired and continues to reside in Hot Springs, SD.
William became interested in poetry while experiencing health issues and found it to be therapeutic. After retirement, he took his poetry to the next level. He recently took two first place and one second place awards at the Veterans Creative Arts Festival in the Black Hills Region. His insight of his surroundings is both humorous and inspiring.

• A War of Love

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664147683

William T. Elliott

WILLIAM ELLIOTT was born on September 23, 1951, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During his childhood, he was interested in baseball. He was also interested in science. He won first prize in a science fair for building a Geiger counter. He had a paper route as his first job. He was in junior high school when desegregation took place. He remembers playing baseball in his neighborhood with both African American and Caucasian children. In 1966, William and his family moved to Hot Springs, South Dakota. His family consisted of his mom, dad, three sisters, and one brother. He completed his high school education in Hot Springs. During high school, he was athletic and was involved in track and field. He graduated from high school in 1969. After high school, William took two years of college at Northern State College. Then in 1972 he joined the air force. He was primarily stationed at Altus Air Force Base in Altus, Oklahoma, and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He was honorably discharged from the air force in 1975. William completed his BS degree in environmental science in 1977. During college, he met Nancy Rempfer, whom he married in June of 1976. He later completed a master’s in business administration from the University of South Dakota in December of 1984. His work experience includes being a health inspector for the state of South Dakota; a business manager for the Cheyenne River Community College in Eagle Butte South Dakota; a business and computer instructor at Little Hoop Community College in Ft. Totten, North Dakota; taught small business management at National American University in Rapid City, South Dakota; then took a position at Oglala Lakota College teaching computer science and business, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. William lost his wife of nearly 41 years in 2017. He is retired and continues to reside in Hot Springs, SD. William became interested in poetry while experiencing health issues and found it to be therapeutic. After retirement, he took his poetry to the next level. He recently took two first place and one second place awards at the Veterans Creative Arts Festival in the Black Hills Region. His insight of his surroundings is both humorous and inspiring. • A War of Love • Facebook • Twitter • Google Plus • LinkedIn

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Copyright © 2021 by William T. Elliott.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 12/11/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

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Contents

An Introduction To The Fight For Life

POEMS

A Beagle

A Cat

The Chickadee

The Deer

The Missouri

The Snowflake

The Delicate Kiss

How To Get Along With A Woman

The Peanut

An Ode To Hamburger

The Napkin

The Hawk And The Blackbird

THE PRETTY AND THE RASCALS POEMS

The Vision

A Bird

The Flower

The Kitty That Sat

The Little Rascal Whoop

The Death Of A Thought

The Pen That Skipped

The Paper Clip

The O

Heartburn

The Chair

The Bobber

Sunset

The Meadowlark

Sleep

THE HUMOROUS AND THE MELANCHOLY POEMS

An Ode To Odeur

Chess

Loneliness

My Left Hand

Paper

Shorts

The Eagle

The Goldfinch

The Rain

The Trip

A WAR OF LOVE POEMS

Chocolates

Cleaning

Critics

Duke The Boy

Frustration

Grandma Nancy

Popcorn

The Drive

The Gap

The Refrigerator

War Of The Spirit

PEACE POEMS

A Bug

Children

The City

Fame

Love

The Old Woman And The Cat

Peace

A Squirrel

The Fire

The Worker

REVERENCE POEMS

Bills

Country

Covet

Dishonor

Father

Hope

The Magpie

Pipe Dreams

Prayer

The Veteran

THE CHANGE OF SEASONS

Forward To Since Nancy

My Brother

The Butterfly

Cards

Confused

Ends

Fatigue

Fear

Hairs

Johnny

Lesson Learned

The Moth

Sadness

The Sister I Forgot

The Cat That Slept

The Change Of Seasons

TOGETHER

Together

Clouds

Contrary

The Duchess And The Squirrel

The Enemy

My Friend

The Hug

Pantyhose

Status

Anger

Vietnam

War And Peace

POOR IN THE SPIRIT

Poor

The Blossom

Suicide

The Politician

Different

The Quiet Poet

Caffeine

Depression

Gotcha Last

True

The Cat Bath

The Almighty And The Angels

The Life Of A Poet

Boredom

The Chimney And The Woodpecker

Ostracized

Right

Being Me

SINCE NANCY

My Nancy

Fred And Bubba

Birdy Wirdy

The Damselfly

Sorrow

My Family

The Gathering Of The Poets

Celebrate

The Sky

Bombers

Gabriella

Loving The Ninevites

The Porch

The Kick Me Game

Christmas

The Footstep

Snowy Night

The Cat That Sneezed

The Little Old Lady And The Child

Old Baldy

The Chip That Stuck

Whitney

Barb’s Grand Daughter

The Saga Of The Underwear

TO FORGIVE

John Q Public

The Sanctuary

The Bit Tongue

Cursed

The Fickle Fan

The Fallen

To Cry

To Forgive

The Birdy Chirp

The Bazooka

Life

Meth

The Demon

KITTY PAW

The Angels Of Heaven

The Barking Dog On Evans Street

Beauty

The Conversation

Dion Of The Belmonts

Freedom

Something Good

The Hailstorm

The Hand

Happy

The Kitty Paw

Purpose

Thursday

Vengeance

White

ADDITIONAL POEMS

In The Hands Of God

Money

Suffering

Talking To Poets

I Dreamed Of Chaos

The Show Off

REJECTION

Fireflies

The Fool

From A Far

Kristina

The Leader

The Little Girl

The Man

No

The Past

Rejection

Short

A Silver Lining

The Soft Heart

Spot

The Sun

Tragedy

Women

THE FIGHT FOR LIFE

Affection

My Father’s Dream

The Fight For Life

Grandmother

Jail

The Lonely Woman

Prejudice

ABUSE

Abuse

What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted

Cool Clear Water

The Creaseman Brothers

The Ghetto

Kathleen And Eileen

Mary And Ida-May

ADDITIONAL POEMS

The Ballroom Gown

The Bar Fight

Best Of Flight

Those Who Love Animals

Mount Rushmore

Tradition

AN INTRODUCTION TO

THE FIGHT FOR LIFE

by William T. Elliott – Vietnam Era Veteran

Hello. My name is William T. Elliott and I am a Vietnam Era Veteran and the author of this book. I am writing this introduction to give you a perhaps not so brief description of who I am, how I served the country during the Vietnam War, and about how the book came to be written and the motivations behind it. First of all I should tell you when I served and what I did. I served in the Air Force from 1972 to 1975, and left the service shortly before the fall of Saigon in the spring of 1975, which is in my opinion when the war actually ended, not 1973, when the last American combat troops were pulled out of the country. I served as a shift leader for an in-flighty kitchen. And the planes I serviced were C-5 cargo planes, C-141 cargo planes, and KC-135 refuelers. I served in the Military Airlift Command. You should also know that I was not in Vietnam, but served all of my time at Altus Air Force base, in Altus, Oklahoma. However you should also know that I was as dedicated to serving my country as any combat veteran in the field. And you should also know that I was as affected by the hatred of the country for servicemen back then, as any other serviceman was. And that hatred ended up in translating in my hatred of myself, for my part in being a veteran of that war. After the war, I went home, to Hot Springs, South Dakota, to start my life again, only to find no place for me there, but hatred instead. So finally I left my family home, and the town I came back to, with the clothes on my back, and hitchhiked from Hot Springs to Aberdeen, South Dakota. Hoping to find my way there. There, God took me in his arms, and I met my future wife to be, Nancy Rempfer, who came and sat down beside me while I was watching TV in the lobby of Jerde Hall, the freshman dormitory of Northern State College, when I went over to the college one day, from the YMCA where I was staying, to watch their TV. I had said a prayer to God, just before Nancy came in, that I would talk to any girl that came in and sat close to me, regardless of what she looked like. And the next moment Nancy came in and sat down. I started talking to her and she smiled and I asked her if she wanted to go and have tea. And she said yes and we went and had tea. Well we went to a movie that night and got to know each other as the days went by. And I told her I had been in the service and she encouraged me to enroll in the bachelor’s program at Northern, where I had previously attended before quitting and volunteering for the service. Well I enrolled again at the college, and shortly thereafter, still in the summer of 1975, I asked Nancy if she would marry me. She said yes, and one year later, June 1st, of 1976, we were married. Well I went on to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science, in 1977. I went to school under the GI Bill. A number of years later, congress gave the Vietnam Era Veterans nine more months of funding for school under the GI Bill. And I went back to school again to the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion, and finally was awarded an MBA in 1984. Well, unfortunately, my troubles with the service were not over, and the hatred of myself remained. Panic ensued as I fought to keep from taking my own life. All of it finally led to my nearly losing my life by my own hand, twice, once in the Fargo, North Dakota VA Hospital in 1996, where I had been hospitalized in the psychiatric ward there for panic. And the second time I nearly lost my life was a lot closer to death, when I took pills in the fall of 2009 after Nancy and I had finally moved back to Hot Springs. It took my wife, and the ambulance emts, and Fall River Hospital, and the Fort Meade VA Hospital a little bit north of Hot Springs, where they finally shipped me that day, to save my life. I am very thankful to all of them for helping to save my life that day. After I came back from Fort Meade, I finally came to grips with my life, and took responsibility for my part in the service, and stopped hating myself, and finally came to even like and appreciate myself for what I had done during the war.

A lot has happened since 2009. I finally wrote and had published two books of poetry about my observations and experience on life, which I had actually started writing a little bit in 1982 and 1983, when I wrote two small booklets of poetry after getting released from the Hot Springs VA Hospital, where I had been hospitalized six days for panic. The two larger books I wrote, not including this current book, which you are now reading, are called, A War Of Love – Poems by William T. Elliott, which was published in 2015, and a second edition of A War Of Love, which was published in 2019, called, A War Of Love - 2nd Edition – Poems by William T. Elliott. That book was written two years after Nancy passed away in 2017, after forty and a half years of marriage together. One of the sections in the 2nd Edition is called Since Nancy, and is dedicated to her, whom I love.

Well the story is not over, and my life continued, and as we all know the entire world was struck by a deadly pandemic, the likes of which has never been seen before in modern times. Apparently though, God had some other things in mind for me, even in the midst of such a disastrous event. He motivated me to write again, in some of the greatest poems I have ever written in my life, describing my suffering and sacrifice and persecution after the war, and some other very intense and even traumatic experiences I had during some other earlier times in my life. Most of those newer poems were put together into three booklets called respectively, Rejection, The Fight For Life, and Abuse. And there are about seven or eight other poems which are not yet in booklet form. This current book, called, The Fight For Life – Poems by William T. Elliott, is named after a poem by that name which is contained in the Fight For Life booklet, a poem which describes God’s fight to keep me from taking my own life, after I had been released from the Fargo VA Hospital psychiatric ward. All of the poems from these new booklets are contained in this current book, which you now have. And the other poems which were written which were not yet in booklet form, are also in this current book. You should also know that the entire contents of the 2nd Edition book, which also includes the poems from the earlier first edition, are included in this book as well. So you won’t miss out on a thing about my observations and experiences on and in my life. I am going to make a dedication of this book in a moment, but before I do I would like to mention one more experience in my life which affected me greatly and which I hid even from myself for close to sixty years before finally accepting the reality of it. And that was sexual abuse, which I endured in a Boy Scout camping trip when I was 12 years old, in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. I fled from the abuse that night at the camping site where I endured it, through the dark lonely forest of that Appalachian mountain, searching for the troop leader and someone to help, who would take me home. The story of that abuse, and how I fled that night through that dark lonely Appalachian forest, are recorded in the poem, Abuse, which is contained in the Abuse booklet, and in the Abuse section of this book, which the booklet and section are named