Harold "Hal" Halstead

Harold Halstead, 96, Bismarck, died Sept. 10, 2020 at Marian Manor Healthcare, Glen Ullin. Funeral services will be held at 12 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Pkwy, Bismarck. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.

Burial will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan.

Harold “Hal” was born on Oct. 14, 1923 in Beach, the third child of Hazel (Sperry) and Harry Halstead. Until age six, he and his family lived on the family wheat farm, two miles south and one mile west of Beach at which time the family moved into town but continued to farm. He attended elementary and high school in Beach and was the Quarterback on the Beach Buccaneer’s football team which played in the State Class B Championship game in 1941. He entered UND in the Fall of 1941. His university studies were interrupted when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Harold enlisted in the Army Air Corp (now the Air Force) and was called up in 1943. Upon completing Flight School as a second Lieutenant, he was assigned as a co-pilot on a B-17 Bomber, and then assigned to the European Theatre of War with the 8^th Air Force, 95^th Bomb Group, 336^th Squadron at Horham, England. On August 16, 1944, while on a bombing run over Germany, his B-17 was shot down near Camburg, Germany, and the entire crew became POWs of the Germans. Harold was incarcerated in Stalag Luft 3, a German POW camp made famous by the movie “The Great Escape”, located near present day Sagan, Poland, and then in Stalag 7A near Munich. He was liberated by the U.S. Army’s General George Patton, on April 29, 1945. 

After the war, Harold attended Denver University for one year, then transferred to UND and graduated from UND Law School in 1949, and initially practiced law in Minot. He married Demaris Peterson in 1949, and together they had two children, Harry and Linda. He eventually lived and practiced law in California, Oregon and Washington where he worked as legal counsel for Standard Oil of California, Private practice, and Safco Insurance, Seattle. Harold married his current wife, Marie Pilles, in 1980 in Everett, Washington. They lived in Bellevue, Washington, until moving to Bismarck in 2007. 

Harold is remembered for his keen sense of humor, repartee, cordiality, a voracious reader, politics, B-17 crewmember bond, travel, love for his hometown of Beach, Limmericks, and adages: “Remember if you are stacking hay, keep it high in the middle!” He was active in the Seattle and Prairie West Ex-pow organizations, Bismarck Rotary Club, Apple Creek Country Club, Sigma Chi, UND Alumni Association, and the American Legion, Beach, North Dakota. 

Harold is survived by his wife, Marie;  children Harry (Kathy) Halstead, Stanwood, Wash., Linda (Christopher) Birmingham, Fargo; grandchildren, Malissa Thorson Rix, Wenatchee, Wash., Danna Joyner, Stanwood, Wash., Austin Langford, Seattle, Wash., Paige (Dr. Prasad) Sawardeker, Fargo, Grant Birmingham, Fargo; great-grandsons Braden Joyner, Stanwood, Wash., Rohan Sawardeker, Fargo, Zaya Langford, Seattle, Wash.; sister, Marjorie (Alvin) Farstveet, Beach; nieces, great- nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews.

Harold was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Gladys (Francis) Larson; brother, Richard (Bertha) Halstead; grandson, Eric Halstead; and his B-17 crew. 

The family would like to express a special thank you to the staff of Marian Manor for their kind, capable and respectful care provided for Hal. 

Memorials may be donated to your favorite charity.