Marine Deserter Ordered Held Till His Case Is Settled

Douglas G. Beane, who spent the last 17 years living in Australia after deserting from the Marine Corps in Vietnam, was ordered held in jail Friday until his case is settled, the service announced.

Beane will be confined to the brig at the Quantico, Va., Marine base “pending possible trial on charges arising from his actions in the Republic of Vietnam and his desertion,” a Marine Corps statement said.

The corps said in the statement that Beane had deserted once before and was apprehended before successfully fleeing for good in 1970.

The corps said that Beane, 39, would appear before a military magistrate “within 10 days,” but Pentagon sources said it remained unclear whether he would be court-martialed. Beane could receive an administrative discharge without any serious penalties, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.

Beane, who could face a life term, went AWOL two weeks before his tour of duty in Vietnam was to end.

The corps also noted that Beane was not eligible for amnesty under an executive clemency program established in 1974 because he did not “appeal to the clemency review board prior to Jan. 31, 1975.”

Beane, a native of Rochester, Vt., surrendered to Marine authorities after returning to the United States voluntarily in hopes of visiting his father, who is ill.