Marines Expected to Release 1968 Deserter

A 56-year-old deserter being held in the Camp Pendleton brig will probably be released within a week without a court martial, the Marine Corps said Monday.

Unless more information surfaces, the case of Allen Abney, who deserted in 1968 to avoid being sent to Vietnam, will be handled administratively, a Marine spokesman said.

By law, the Marine Corps cannot divulge what kind of discharge Abney will receive. But other deserters from that era have been given discharges labeled as “other than honorable.”

Abney, a private when he deserted, was arrested last week when he tried to enter the United States from his home in British Columbia, Canada.

He is being held in a private room with a window and access to television, said Lt. Lawton King, a Marine Corps spokesman.

Abney met with a military lawyer, a colonel and a representative of the Canadian Consulate on Monday. Medical personnel have also spoken to him.

Despite several recent cases of Vietnam deserters being arrested, the Marine Corps has not made a particular effort to catch such people, King said.

Abney was arrested after a random computer check showed a 1968 federal arrest warrant. He was taken into custody by civil authorities that regulate the border, then transferred to Camp Pendleton.

Desertion can result in a one-year jail sentence, or five years for desertion to avoid hazardous duty.