Haugland delivers Memorial Day address

Looking at his young family, Gabriel Haugland told those gathered for Memorial Day services at Clear Lake Cemetery Monday he knew his service in Afghanistan was necessary. “Don’t go daddy.  I need you,” his two-year-old daughter, Grace, had pleaded before he left.  He was also leaving behind his young wife, Carolyn, and an infant son, Nick.

“I had to go and do the honorable, noble, and just thing for them and for us,” Haugland recalled.  “It was crucial.  I needed my family to believe in what I was doing in Afghanistan-- that they deserve the same opportunities we enjoy.

Haugland  led a 23-man Infantry rifle platoon from Bravo Company, 1-168 Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, in 2010 and 2011. He said he was driven in his work to stop 9/11 plots and make the world more safe for families like his.

After returning from deployment, Haugland branch-transferred to the Judge Advocate General’s corps, and now serves as a JAG Officer (military lawyer) in the Iowa Army National Guard in the rank of Captain.

“I did come home, but sadly many others did not,” he said.  “May their sacrifice, devotion, permanent act of love ever be on our minds not only on Memorial Day, but everyday.”

Local Memorial Day services also included a ‘Missing Man Table’ to honor service members who have fallen in the line of - Read more via e-Edition