Magazine connected teen with grandfather
The late Jane Carlberg, who lived in Libby from 1946 until her death on Aug. 29, was shocked to see her father - a British World War I soldier - on the front of "Life" magazine in March 1964.
By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter
As a senior at Libby High School in 1964, Pete Carlberg picked up the latest issue of "Life" magazine.
The cover photo of World War I British soldiers from 1917 prompted him to share it with his English-born mother, Jane Carlberg. She immediately recognized the wounded soldier on the end.
It was her father.
To remind people to thank family members for serving in the military on Veterans Day this Saturday, Nov. 11, Pete Carlberg asked The Western News to publish the photo.
"When Veterans Day comes about, they just give it a glad hand and say 'thank-you' for your efforts and for our country," said Carlberg, who now lives in Sheridan, Wyo. "I think you should look at it on more of a personal level. Without our ancestors, we wouldn't be here."
His mother, Jane, who died on Aug. 29, 2006, after living in Libby for 50 years, was born in Middleborough, England. She met Pete's late father, Earl, when he served in the Air Force in England. They married in 1943.
Three years later, Jane Carlberg and her 2-year-old and 9-week-old sons took a ship to New York and then a train to Libby, where Jane's husband had found work at J. Neils Lumber Co.
Pete Carlberg, 60, is the second oldest of the couple's five children and was the younger of the two boys who came from England with their mother. His siblings are Laurence Carlberg of Elma, Wash.; Pam Moore of Grandview, Wash.; Mike Carlberg of Libby; and Sheelagh Fenison of Pasco, Wash.
Jane Carlberg had been living in Libby for 18 years before she saw the photo of her father on the March 13, 1964, issue of "Life" magazine.
Pete Carlberg, who is retired from the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway, initially doubted his mother.
"I reasoned with her that she was mistaken, but she was adamant that it was her father, Thomas Hagan," he said. "Mom bought the 'Life' magazine, mailed it off to England and indeed grandpa Hagan confirmed that he was the wounded soldier on the far left."
The picture shows Hagan with a wounded left wrist. He was wounded again in 1918 in the neck. Had the bullet hit four inches to the left, he would have died.
Hagan joined the British army in 1914 along with 33 classmates. He was among two who survived the war, Pete Carlberg said.
During the war, Hagan suffered though mustard gas bombardments, which weakened his lungs. The residual effects of the gas led to his death from pneumonia in 1970.
"On this Veterans Day, I reflect how my life is intricately intertwined with my grandfather Hagan's life," Pete Carlberg said. "God's grace and intercession saved him from death. If he hadn't survived, I wouldn't be here today."