Remembering Capt. James Heg, who upheld a legacy of service

Honor. Courage. Commitment.

Before saying those words during his 2009 commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, President Barack Obama mentioned some graduates by name — one with a grandfather in the crowd.

“It’s the reverence for tradition shown by James P. Heg, a communications maintenance Marine in Iraq who today is joined by the man who first urged him to sign up, his grandfather, returning six decades after he was a midshipman, a submariner from World War II, 89-year-old Captain James E. Heg,” Obama said.

Then, taking a long pause, the president applauded the older man.

James E. “Jim” Heg, a retired Navy captain, World War II veteran, and member of Everett High School’s class of 1938, died Nov. 21. He was 95.

He lived at Chateau Pacific, a senior community in Lynnwood. His life of service took him all over the world.

“I can’t recall a single bit of advice he offered that I ever regretted taking,” said James P. Heg, now a 33-year-old captain in the Marine Corps Reserves who lives in Alexandria, Virginia. “It was a privilege to have known him and learned from him.”

During World War II, the elder Heg served on the submarine USS Bang, and earned a Bronze Star.

He spent 31 years in the military, and commanded the USS Sunbird submarine rescue ship, the submarine USS Tigrone, Submarine Division 101, and the oiler USS Cimmaron. He represented the Navy at the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks involving the United States and the Soviet Union, and at other treaty negotiations.

After retiring from the Navy in 1972, he spent three years with the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., as director of polar programs. A mountain in Antarctica is named Mount Heg in his honor.

An avid sailor, Heg became part owner of the Flying Dutchman yacht company after moving home to the Seattle area in 1975. The Seattle company designed sailboats, had them built in Taiwan, and then imported them.

Christopher Heg, one of Heg’s three sons, said his father traveled to Asia with the business and was a good negotiator. Later, he worked as a financial manager at Seaview Boatyard in Seattle.

James E. Heg is survived by sons Christopher Heg, of Seattle, an engineer; James T. Heg, a diplomatic officer at the United States Embassy in Paris; and John Heg, a retired engineer in Houston.

He is also survived by his wife, Adelaide, by sisters Elizabeth Heg Brannstrom and Jean Heg Smith, and five grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Hester, who died in 1996, and two sisters.

Christopher Heg said his father was strict when he was younger, but had mellowed with age. “When he was in the Navy, he kind of laid down the law. He was the captain,” he said. Later, the elder Heg bought a boat and they sailed together.

James T. Heg recalled his father’s no-nonsense approach: “He did not welcome excuses, just positive outcomes,” he said by email from Paris. During the 1960s, he and his dad didn’t see eye-to-eye. “He was in the military and I saw him as inflexible and out of touch,” James T. Heg wrote. “It did not take much time for me to mature a bit and realize my father usually knew what he was talking about.”

Jean Heg Smith, Heg’s 81-year-old sister, lives in Issaquah. She remembers meeting her brother’s bride, Hester, when he brought her home to meet the family during World War II. “I was absolutely thrilled. She was from North Carolina, and had this wonderful Southern accent,” Smith said.

She laughed recalling the family going out on a boat during the visit. “One thing I remember, his teasing Hester into jumping into Puget Sound. He was a terrible tease,” Smith said.

Her brother had a great interest in family history. “He taught us where our family had come from,” she said.

Born Dec. 15, 1919, in Kent, James E. Heg was the son of Henry Thornton Heg, once elected mayor of Mossyrock, and Anna Cummings Heg.

His grandfather Elmer Ellsworth Heg was an Interior Department territorial doctor and served as a brigade surgeon during the Spanish American War.

James T. Heg said his father was most inspired by the duty of his great-grandfather. Col. Hans Christian Heg, a Norwegian immigrant, who was killed in 1863 while leading the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War Battle of Chickamauga.

While still at Everett High, where he lettered in football and track, James E. Heg had begun his own life of service. By 1937 — Depression times — he had joined the National Guard. “He said it was the only way to make a dollar,” Christopher Heg said.

“He never let us forget the tradition of service to country,” said James P. Heg, the Naval Academy graduate. “He was upholding a family legacy that went back to the Civil War.”

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.