Leland James Haley “Hahe” of Wilseyville died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012. He was 87.

Mr. Haley was born Feb. 3, 1925, in Jackson to James Haley and Bernice Brown Haley of Calaveras County. A lifelong resident of West Point and Wilseyville, Mr. Haley attended Calaveras High School where he received his diploma 60 years later in 2004 with his grandson, David Landreth.

In the fall of his senior year, Mr. Haley was drafted Sept. 9, 1943, and sent to Fort Benning, Ga., where he became a paratrooper for the 508th Infantry and the 82nd Airborne. On June 6, 1944, Mr. Haley was in a hospital in Germany receiving treatment for chickenpox while his fellow servicemen stormed the beaches of Normandy during D-Day. [all sic]

On Sept. 17, 1944, Mr. Haley was shot in his hip in Holland as his unit was climbing over a dike. Upon recovering, Mr. Haley fought in the Battle of the Bulge in March 1945 and was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, where he guarded General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters at the Heidelberg Castle [sic] until he returned home in March 1946.

After returning home, Mr. Haley married his wife of 61 years, Ailene Watson of Wilseyville, in 1951 at the courthouse in Carson City, Nev. The couple settled down in their current home on the Wilseyville ranch Ailene’s grandfather homesteaded in 1850-51, where they raised their two daughters.

Mr. Haley spent most of his working life out in the woods working for various lumber companies and with the Calaveras County Road Department. Mr. Haley officially retired from the American Forest Products Company in 1987. When Mr. Haley wasn’t working to support his family, his true passions were raising cattle on the ranch, deer hunting, working on the ranch, spending time with his grandchildren, and watching his beloved San Francisco 49ers.

Mr. Haley is survived by his wife, Ailene Haley of Wilseyville; his sister; his [2] daughters of Wilseyville; his aunt of Lodi; his brother-in-law of West Point; seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 22, at the West Point Community Covenant Church on Highway 26. Donations can be made in his name to Hospice of Calaveras and Amador, Wounded Warrior Project, or any charity of donor’s choice.

]The Journal, New Ulm, MN]