"Mickey' Ebald had a great fastball, a wonderful smile and an endless number of girlfriends", a sister recalled. He would rush outside at the first sign of spring and play baseball even if snow was still on the ground, Ebald pitched for the Venango Midgets, Jules E. Mastbaum High School and the Pepsi-Cola team in the Penndel League. He attended Mastbaum and Spring Garden Institute before he put his mechanical skills to work at a truck manufacturing firm. Ebald was a member of the Roma Catholic Church of the Nativity, Belgrade Street and Allegheny Avenue. He and his brother, Daniel, enlisted in the Army together in May 1966. Michael wanted to become a Green Beret, but had to settle for being a light weapons infantryman. He was sent to Vietnam, where he participated in the first parachute jump of the war. He and many of the men in his platoon were killed on March 3, 1967, when his unit, part of Company C of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne, 173rd Airborne Brigade, was ambushed by a large enemy force. In addition to his brother, the private first class was survived by his mother, another brother and three sisters.