Hazelton enlisted in Marines during senior year of high school
BY JOY POWERS

Robert L. Hazelton
World War II - South Pacific
6th Defense Battalion-Fleet Marine Force So. Pac.- 90mm Anti-aircraft

In October of 1943, Bob Hazelton, a senior in Edgeley High School enlisted into the Marines. He was sent to the San Diego Marine Base for his basic training. When Bob should have been at the graduation ceremony in Edgeley, he was away on duty. His mother, Alvina Hazelton, was allowed to go up during the ceremony to accept his diploma for him.

From there he was immediately shipped to Hawaii for guard duty. Bob remembers six of them getting a weekend passes one of the weekends. They decided to take a tour guide and tour Oahu. Their tour guide had an old car, one Bob said, "I’ve never seen one like it since." The car had open sides and black cloth or canvas for the top. "We had a lot of fun, and they treated us like royalty," Bob said. Their driver took them to places they never knew existed, places to stop for a beer and places to just enjoy themselves. They had a lot of fun on that weekend.

After 2 ½ weeks in Hawaii, Bob was sent to Midway, Coral Island in the South Pacific. Bob said, "It was a damn desert, nothing but coral." Again he was assigned to guard duty with 90mm batteries and 50 caliber machine guns. Their duty was to guard Japanese prisoners being held there. Bob said, "The prisoners didn’t give you any trouble though because they didn’t have any place to go to if they did get out." The duty here was not too hard. Bob was stationed at Midway until 1945 before being shipped back on aircraft carriers USS Tulaga and USS Tarowa to the Hawaiian Islands. They were there long enough to transfer ships, get new clothing and gear, and grab their rifle before being sent back to San Diego.

He received a furlough at that time and came home to Edgeley for a few weeks, finding himself bored here. Then he was sent to Seattle to the Naval Air Station at Sand Point. Here he pulled guard duty at the main gate to the base.

Bob remembers the times when the Ensigns would come staggering back to the base after a night on the town. It was their duty to check their ID Cards. Of course, they were required to salute the Ensigns and sometimes they refused to do this because they were so drunk. The Ensigns would get very angry with them over this.

After that Bob was transferred to the Naval Hospital in Seattle and pulled guard duty there as the head guard. Their main job was to take the prisoners to the doctor if they needed medical attention. He said that was a fun place for duty and they were disbanded when he was discharged in December of 1945.

He eventually moved back here to Edgeley to work with his father, Lindon V. Hazelton, in carpentry and construction work. He married Chris Lantz, Mott, in 1953. Chris and Bob have lived in Edgeley ever since still doing the carpentry and construction work and a 25-year venture producing honey.

Bob enjoyed his time in the Marine Corps and sometimes he would wonder why he didn’t stay in, but then Korea came up and he was glad he’d gotten out.