HAYDEN — Harold “Hal” Donahue was just 8 years old when World War II broke out.

As he listened to the war news each night, he would turn a globe and stick pins wherever battles were happening.

“I remember feeling disappointed and angry that I wasn’t old enough to fight,” he said.

The time for Donahue to serve his country came later, when he enlisted in the Navy at 19. He was a sonar operator in the 1950s.

The city of Hayden named Donahue the 2022 Distinguished Veteran of the Year. More than 100 people gathered Friday morning at McIntire Family Park for the ceremony where he was honored.

“I’m not sure I deserve it,” the 89-year-old Coeur d’Alene resident said upon receiving the award. “But I do accept it in the memory of those brave men and women in the armed forces who gave their lives so that we can enjoy this wonderful free and democratic nation.”

Hayden Mayor Scott Forssell presented Donahue with the award.

“I hope you remember the sacrifice of veterans, not only today, but every day,” he told the crowd.

At his first station, Donahue and his crew made sure Russian submarines stayed out of restricted areas.

In May 1954, he transferred to the USS Murray stationed in Norfolk, Va., where he spent three months in the Mediterranean doing training exercises and visited ports in North Africa, Italy, Spain, Sicily and Greece.

While enlisted, he traveled to numerous European countries and participated in exercises in the North Sea with the British Navy.

He later transferred to the USS Owen in Norfolk and headed to the Panama Canal, then to the South China Sea, where he spent nine months patrolling the Formosa Straits between mainland China and Taiwan.

Donahue joined the Naval Reserve in 1956.

He returned to Montana the following year, where he met his wife, Patricia. The pair were married for 61 years, until Patricia’s death in 2020. They had six children.

Donahue is a member of the American Legion Post 154 in Rathdrum, where he serves as an honor guard.

Bob Shay, a Navy veteran and senior vice-commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliary Post 3603, also addressed the crowd.

He noted that many service members did not ask to leave their homes and families to fight on distant battlefields but showed courage and integrity anyway.

“They did not join the military because they loved to fight,” Shay said. “They were called to be part of something bigger than themselves. They were ordinary people who responded in extraordinary ways in extreme situations that in many cases would leave everlasting scars on their souls.”

After accepting his award, Donahue reminded the crowd that freedom comes at a cost.

“We must never forget those brave souls that made the ultimate sacrifice and make sure they did not die in vain,” he said.