The Nation - News from June 23, 1987

A Marine Corps deserter who surrendered after being at large for 17 years is being discharged “for the good of the service” instead of being court-martialed, the Marines announced. Douglas G. Beane, who has been held at the Quantico, Va., Marine Base since June 9, admitted to being guilty of desertion, dealing in the black market and threatening to kill another Marine, said Gunnery Sgt. Dean Chamberlain, a base spokesman. Beane, 39, of Rochester, Vt., had been facing trial on those charges in Vietnam when he deserted. He was arrested in December in Australia, where he had lived for 17 years, when he applied for a passport to visit his sick father in Vermont.