Vietnam War Deserter Released to Return to Canada

When the Customs agent working the Canadian border asked Allen Abney to pull over, Abney must have figured that his bluff had been finally called. For more than 30 years, Abney had crossed the Canadian border into Idaho hundreds of times without incident. But this was the first time he had been asked for a birth certificate as identification. When officers checked into his identity, they immediately arrested him.

Abney, 56, is a former Kentucky native who deserted the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War in 1968. He and his family had moved to Canada in 1959, but he had retained his U.S. citizenship and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1968 after his younger brother received a draft notice. But after being sent to Camp Pendleton, Abney changed his mind. He received a weekend pass to visit Mexico, but instead boarded a bus to Vancouver, and he has lived in Canada ever since, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1977.

Soldiers who deserted and dodged the draft during the Vietnam War were given the opportunity to apply for amnesty in the 1970s, but Abney didn’t think it was worth it for him to turn himself in. Now he regrets all of his decisions regarding leaving the United States, and says that he knows he made a mistake when he fled the Marine Corps. "When I was 18, I wasn’t aware that duty and honor would mean as much to me as they do now," Abney said. "Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have done what I did 38 years ago. It wasn’t worth it, all the pain I caused my family."

After spending one night in jail in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, two Marine investigators took Abney to Camp Pendleton. "I was read my rights and told of the charges," Abney said. "I was once again a Marine. Officials gave him combat fatigues and boots, cut his hair, and told Abney to trim his mustache to military standards or shave it off completely. According to Abney, while he waited for officers to determine whether to court martial him, he was treated with respect. "The (Marine Corps) is one of the finest military organizations in the world," he said. "Good or bad, they take care of their own and I feel privileged to have shared some time with those fine young warriors."

Abney could have been tried and sentenced to up to five years in jail with a dishonorable discharge from the military, but he was released without a court-martial and he returned to Canada the next day. While Abney was in custody, his younger brother died of cancer in British Columbia. Marine spokesman Lt. Lawton King told reporters that privacy laws prohibited him disclosing whether or not Abney received a dishonorable discharge, but the Marines expedited his release so that he could attend his brother’s memorial service on Saturday.