MY GRANDFATHER WAS A DESERTER, A WONDERFUL MAN

 

Here is the May 1968 article by Nancy Nelson from the "Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber," about my maternal grandfather, Peter Haugland.

P. O. Haugland, Spanish-American War veteran, was given a life-membership in the VFW at its 35th birthday banquet last week.

Haugland, whose twinkling eyes and perky white beard belie the fact that he will be 90 in August, accepted the honor by announcing that he had deserted the Marine Corps.

"Actually, I just 'shifted' from one branch to another without asking anyone's permission," he told his comrades and their wives at the Saturday banquet.

Born in Norway where the Marines were an "action" outfit, the 18-year-old boy came to this country and immediately enlisted in the Marines.  He really wanted to see active duty and was soon disillusioned with his job aboard a hospital ship which plied the waters between the Orient and San Francisco.

"I asked for a transfer to the Army, but they would not take the trouble.  So one day I got a leave of absence to visit my uncle and I went down and asked the Army if they wanted me.

"Of course I didn't mention my previous service experience," Haugland chuckles.  "And they were tickled to have me—so there I was taking an oath to be a soldier."

Even though he tried to be a bumbling new recruit, it was pretty hard not to respond to the 18 months of training which he had received in the Marines.

"Although I tried my best to be clumsy, I was a wonderfully apt recruit," he recalls.

His officers began using him as an example of what a beginner could really do—if he tried.  "I've never been inclined to be 'puffed up' Haugland chuckled.  "So I took it all natural."

Barely over five feet tall ("I haven't grown much since those days," he remarks) the eager Infantryman was always the first to volunteer.  The officers liked him because he 'learned' so quickly and tried to put him on the small end of the heavy jobs.  "But I kept volunteering and they all came to like me," he recalls.

"I was a good soldier—I have to tell you that," he reflects.

One of his most trying experiences was due to the guilty feelings over his desertion from the Marine Corps.  A religious young man, Haugland could not help but feel the Marines would be 'laying for him.'  It was a terrible experience to find his troop ship anchored alongside his former hospital ship in Honolulu Harbor.  He was sure the loudspeakers would give him away during roll call.  "I really balled it up using the same name for both enlistments," he admits.

Haugland does not know if the Marines and the Army ever got their records straight, but he has lots of good stories to tell about the old days.

Upon his return to civilian life in 1902 Haugland homesteaded for a few years in Minnesota.  Then he began his study for the ministry, completing in three years what was supposed to take four years of study.

He served as a Methodist minister for 18 years and was an elder to the Methodist Conference.  He had pastorates in Minnesota, Michigan and Washington.  "Being a trained cabinet-maker, I always seemed to get the churches that needed remodeling and reconditioning," he laughs.

When the Norwegian Conference in America joined with the Methodists, he left the active ministry.  He had conducted services in Norwegian and did not feel qualified to preach in his adopted tongue.  He has lived on the same property at Cove [on Vashon Island in Washington] since 1925.

In 1908 Haugland married a Swedish girl who bore seven children during their 12 years of marriage.  She died giving birth to their seventh child.  The following year he married a Norwegian woman who was by his side for 41 years before she passed on.

His present wife is an Irish Colleen with a bit of Scotch in her.  "And a Catholic to boot," she jokes—"And him being, of course, a purebred Methodist."

Besides the many houses and churches he has built or worked on he now counts work on cabinets at St. John Vianney Church, which has honored him with a plaque for his work on the cabinets.  "It was MY contribution to the church," Mrs. Haugland adds.

Several years younger than her husband, Mrs. Haugland admits that she can't keep up with her wiry old gentleman.  "He's up and down and going all the time," she says.  One day after spending the afternoon hacking brush and putting stakes around their 10 acres, he declared, "We have more land than I thought, now that I've had a chance to measure most of it on my knees."

Following festivities Saturday at the banquet, the Hauglands left on a trip to Duluth, Minn. to see his sick brother.

They will drive in his wife's new bright red Opel, which he bought for her last week.  "Driving is best when you've got a lot of running around to do," he points out.

Trying to excuse the youthful appearance of the bright red car which they have termed the "mini-brute," Mrs. Haugland explains—"Peter wanted red—he said it was MY color."

______
For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.