Navy Deserter Will Get Less Than Honorable Discharge, Freedom

After 14 years of service that was five months shy of a completed final tour, Ben Borg will receive an “other than honorable” discharge from the Navy for deserting 11 years ago, officials said Wednesday.

Borg, a 44-year-old electrician who was arrested Nov. 1 and brought from his home in Arizona to the brig in San Diego, might be released Friday, said Julie Swan, spokeswoman for the 32nd Street Naval Station.

Borg, who spent one year in Vietnam, was reported missing Jan. 3, 1978, from the Naval Inactive Ships Facility in Bremerton, Wash. Last month, authorities found Borg, known during his Navy service as Charles Bartley Berg. Using helicopters and dogs, they hunted down and arrested him.

“I’m relieved that it’s over--the house has been empty without him,” said his wife, Terry Borg, 37. “It’s like getting a second chance to know that he doesn’t have to hide from anyone--though he never really hid.”

The discharge will be granted at Borg’s request “in lieu of a court-martial for charges of desertion resulting from an 11-year absence from the Navy,” Swan said. Swan declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding Borg’s discharge.

Borg, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday, told The Times last month that he had not deserted and that the Navy had made a mistake. Swan declined to comment on Borg’s claim that he had completed his tour of duty.

An other than honorable discharge will not eliminate but will decrease Borg’s veterans benefits.

“This type of discharge distinguishes between the person who had a problem of some kind and a person who didn’t,” said Cmdr. David Dillon, a Navy spokesman. “He has been painted with a broad brush as not being a good sailor.”

In the years after Borg left the Navy, he gradually rebuilt his life, recovering from a heavy drinking problem, he said. And, with this new life, he chose a new name: Ben Borg.

Borg moved to the outskirts of Clifton, Ariz., a town with a population of 4,200, almost 200 miles from Phoenix. He took a job at the Phelps Dodge copper mine, married, adopted two of his wife’s sons, and hoisted a flag outside their three-bedroom mobile home every Veterans’ Day.

In the town, his arrest was big news.

“It was the most excitement we had since a truck driver went nuts and went through a red light--we’ve only got four lights,” said Ted Johnson, 40, who works in the local gun shop.

Neighbors quickly took sides. At work, a colleague tore the license tags from the Borg’s truck and tossed them to the ground, telling Terry that her husband was a liar. She left work in tears, and her boys put the tags back on the truck.

But others, including Johnson, stood by Borg.

“The man is the nicest, gentlest person you could meet--he never raised his voice,” Johnson said. “I’m not trying to make it sound like he was God and walked on water, but he did always tuck his shirt tails in.”

And for Borg, a gaunt, 6-foot-2 man who wears a hearing aid in his left ear, the arrest posed a devastating rent in the fabric of his life.

“I’m ashamed to say I ever was a sailor,” said Borg, during last month’s interview with the Times. “I would just as soon live in Canada if my family will move.”

Swan says the Navy was not actively pursuing Borg. And such cases, where a desertion occurred more than a decade ago, are not common.

Today, the Navy has 2,613 active desertion cases on file, said Lt. Greg Smith, a Navy spokesman in Washington. Of those, about 70 were kept on the Navy’s list of deserters for at least 20 years. In desertion cases, there is no statute of limitations.

During 1978, the year that the Navy alleges that Borg took off, there were 13,948 desertion cases, the highest in the past two decades.

Navy officials and Greenlee County Undersheriff Larry Gale said they were uncertain about how Borg reached the attention of local authorities. Some speculate that his desertion was detected during a routine background check for the adoption proceedings.

This past Halloween, local police questioned Borg, who denied that he was also known as Berg. He arranged to return for fingerprints the following day. Late that night, however, he took a gun and hiked six hours into the woods. When police learned that Borg was no longer at his house, they went after him. Using a helicopter and 10 men on foot, including two with dogs, the police found and arrested Borg, who made no attempt to resist.

Though Terry knew her husband had spent years in the Navy, he rarely discussed his experiences. Their lives took a dizzying turn when Borg was abruptly removed from their home, she said.

And to Terry and her two boys, the only thing that matters is that Borg is returning.

“Deep down inside, I know he did what he had to do,” said his son Raymond, 17.