Harry BELANGER 1928 - 2006 Retired USMC, First Sergeant, passed away on May 20, 2006 after a long battle with cancer.
He was born on February 26, 1928 to Alaric and Ellen Lomis Belanger in Seattle, WA. He served as a Marine in WWII and the Korean War.
The following is Harry's own words-
In early 1943, help was hard to come by, so a family friend asked me to work on the Puget Sound tug boats. At that time, I was barely 15 years old, having been born in Seattle, Washington on 26 February 1928, and raised there.
The job on the tug boats lasted about four months-until they discovered that I was grossly underage. After that tour of inland "sea duty", I signed on the Army Corps of Engineers as a deck hand on a medium sized former pleasure yacht that was used to transport Army Air Forces personnel throughout the Aleutian Islands. This job lasted until I was discovered to be definitely underage.
Because of my experience at sea, I obtained seaman's papers and seaman's passport and joined the Merchant Marine. I traveled all over the South Pacific, including Australia, on merchant ships. With blackouts, air raids, and other alerts, it was a memorable period of my life.
In December 1944, I decided there was a better way to serve my country. The Marine Corps was my choice. I was still only 16 years old. My first encounter with a Marine recruiting sergeant was disastrous. He threw me out of his office. I retreated to a cofee shop and watched as he left for lunch. "Lunch" was a saloon, and I knew he wouldn't return for at least two hours.
I went back to the recruiting office and said to the woman Marine that was left in charge, "The sergeant told me that you would complete the papers for me to enlist in the Corps." Within an hour and a half, I was processed and officially enlisted into the Marine Corps. Fortunately, the sergeant didn't return from "lunch" until after I had left.
He was born on February 26, 1928 to Alaric and Ellen Lomis Belanger in Seattle, WA. He served as a Marine in WWII and the Korean War.
The following is Harry's own words-
In early 1943, help was hard to come by, so a family friend asked me to work on the Puget Sound tug boats. At that time, I was barely 15 years old, having been born in Seattle, Washington on 26 February 1928, and raised there.
The job on the tug boats lasted about four months-until they discovered that I was grossly underage. After that tour of inland "sea duty", I signed on the Army Corps of Engineers as a deck hand on a medium sized former pleasure yacht that was used to transport Army Air Forces personnel throughout the Aleutian Islands. This job lasted until I was discovered to be definitely underage.
Because of my experience at sea, I obtained seaman's papers and seaman's passport and joined the Merchant Marine. I traveled all over the South Pacific, including Australia, on merchant ships. With blackouts, air raids, and other alerts, it was a memorable period of my life.
In December 1944, I decided there was a better way to serve my country. The Marine Corps was my choice. I was still only 16 years old. My first encounter with a Marine recruiting sergeant was disastrous. He threw me out of his office. I retreated to a cofee shop and watched as he left for lunch. "Lunch" was a saloon, and I knew he wouldn't return for at least two hours.
I went back to the recruiting office and said to the woman Marine that was left in charge, "The sergeant told me that you would complete the papers for me to enlist in the Corps." Within an hour and a half, I was processed and officially enlisted into the Marine Corps. Fortunately, the sergeant didn't return from "lunch" until after I had left.
Harry BELANGER 1928 - 2006 Retired USMC, First Sergeant, passed away on May 20, 2006 after a long battle with cancer.
He was born on February 26, 1928 to Alaric and Ellen Lomis Belanger in Seattle, WA. He served as a Marine in WWII and the Korean War.
The following is Harry's own words-
In early 1943, help was hard to come by, so a family friend asked me to work on the Puget Sound tug boats. At that time, I was barely 15 years old, having been born in Seattle, Washington on 26 February 1928, and raised there.
The job on the tug boats lasted about four months-until they discovered that I was grossly underage. After that tour of inland "sea duty", I signed on the Army Corps of Engineers as a deck hand on a medium sized former pleasure yacht that was used to transport Army Air Forces personnel throughout the Aleutian Islands. This job lasted until I was discovered to be definitely underage.
Because of my experience at sea, I obtained seaman's papers and seaman's passport and joined the Merchant Marine. I traveled all over the South Pacific, including Australia, on merchant ships. With blackouts, air raids, and other alerts, it was a memorable period of my life.
In December 1944, I decided there was a better way to serve my country. The Marine Corps was my choice. I was still only 16 years old. My first encounter with a Marine recruiting sergeant was disastrous. He threw me out of his office. I retreated to a cofee shop and watched as he left for lunch. "Lunch" was a saloon, and I knew he wouldn't return for at least two hours.
I went back to the recruiting office and said to the woman Marine that was left in charge, "The sergeant told me that you would complete the papers for me to enlist in the Corps." Within an hour and a half, I was processed and officially enlisted into the Marine Corps. Fortunately, the sergeant didn't return from "lunch" until after I had left.
He was born on February 26, 1928 to Alaric and Ellen Lomis Belanger in Seattle, WA. He served as a Marine in WWII and the Korean War.
The following is Harry's own words-
In early 1943, help was hard to come by, so a family friend asked me to work on the Puget Sound tug boats. At that time, I was barely 15 years old, having been born in Seattle, Washington on 26 February 1928, and raised there.
The job on the tug boats lasted about four months-until they discovered that I was grossly underage. After that tour of inland "sea duty", I signed on the Army Corps of Engineers as a deck hand on a medium sized former pleasure yacht that was used to transport Army Air Forces personnel throughout the Aleutian Islands. This job lasted until I was discovered to be definitely underage.
Because of my experience at sea, I obtained seaman's papers and seaman's passport and joined the Merchant Marine. I traveled all over the South Pacific, including Australia, on merchant ships. With blackouts, air raids, and other alerts, it was a memorable period of my life.
In December 1944, I decided there was a better way to serve my country. The Marine Corps was my choice. I was still only 16 years old. My first encounter with a Marine recruiting sergeant was disastrous. He threw me out of his office. I retreated to a cofee shop and watched as he left for lunch. "Lunch" was a saloon, and I knew he wouldn't return for at least two hours.
I went back to the recruiting office and said to the woman Marine that was left in charge, "The sergeant told me that you would complete the papers for me to enlist in the Corps." Within an hour and a half, I was processed and officially enlisted into the Marine Corps. Fortunately, the sergeant didn't return from "lunch" until after I had left.
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