BARBER ON LOOKOUT

Olie Olsen cuts hair at Don Martin's barber shop on Main Street in Enterprise. (Observer photos/GARY FLETCHER).

By Gary Fletcher

Observer Staff Writer

ENTERPRISE —

hen "Olie" Olsen moved to Enterprise in 1970, most of his fellow Portlanders, when told he was going to Eastern Oregon, said "Oh, Bend!"

The ones who knew differently were often hunters like Olie.

He came up the branch regularly to hunt with a friend who worked at the U.S. Air Force Reserve 40th Aerial Rescue Unit at the Portland Air Base. There, Olie was a flight engineer with 3,200 hours on the C-119 Flying Boxcar.

Olie would eventually retire out of the

La Grande unit of the Oregon Army National Guard with 30 years of military service.

His service began during World War II in the Navy. Olie was an airplane captain for a year and a half at Corpus Christi, Texas.

"It was a long time. I wanted to see some action," Olie said, so he volunteered for the Amphibious Force and found himself on LST 965, landing tanks on a beach on Luzon in the Philippines.

One night on the radio, Tokyo Rose said she knew the American forces were in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, loaded with aviation fuel.

Olsen and his crewmates couldn't get 50 drums unloaded in time. They were sitting ducks for the suicide plane sent to light them up, so with fogging machines they obscured their position with a cloud of smoke.

The suicide bomber appeared, and was coming right at them. The Americans were ordered to hold their fire, lest it reveal their position.

The kamikaze turned and missed them. Another landing ship had opened fire on the plane. It homed in on that position and flew right into the gun tub, killing them all.

After the war Olie returned to Portland and went to barber school. Barbering was OK, but he couldn't get airplanes out of his blood. So he joined the Portland Air Force Reserve 403rd Troop Carriers. He worked on C-46 cargo planes. The unit's mission changed several times. Olie just kept on maintaining whatever aircraft they ended up with.

Born Wesley M. Olsen, Olie will be 80 this coming St. Patrick's Day. When asked why he doesn't look it, this Norwegian says that staying active is the key.

Olie's sons, Eric and John, own and operate

Pace Setter Athletics. Their stores

in Portland and Eugene

specialize in running shoes.

When the boys fitted Dad with running shoes he began running marathons. He ran the Trail's End to Seaside and two Portland marathons. His 3 hours and 29 minutes qualified him for the Boston Marathon. Wallowa County raised $700 and sent Olie to run in the 90th Boston Marathon.

Unfortunately, last winter Olie fell on ice and broke his hip. That threatened to end his running career.

"I walk and I try to run a little bit, but it's painful," he said about the metal plate in his hip.

Next, Olie's going to be a HAM radio operator. Eric said he'd get Dad a radio if Olie would earn his certification.

Olie passed the test Oct. 9 at Eastern Oregon University. He was disappointed because he

didn't get the 100 percent score that he wanted. He got 96.

Olie's used to doing well. At a 500-person fire school at Eastern, Olie won the map reading contest. Fire school is required for U.S. Forest Service lookout.

Years ago one of Olie's friends was a volunteer on Red Hill Lookout. He told Olie that the Hat Point Lookout would be opening up. Olie got it. He liked it so much he spent 13 summers there.

Each morning he would run 6 miles, eat breakfast, then climb the 90-foot tower to begin his lookout duties.

The Forest Service liked Olie so much that after the third season they made him a seasonal employee. He finished out a season on Red Hill and several times worked Harl Butte, established in 1935.

Several times he's manned Heaven's Gate Lookout at the 8,429-foot elevation on the Idaho side of Hells Canyon. There he worked 10 days on and four off, commuting 217 miles across Brownlee Dam. He'd get 20 to 60 visitors a day there. One time 35 people had a reunion there. "They carried everything 350 yards up that hill," Olie said.

Early on, a visitor told the ever-pleasant and informative Olie that he should write a book about lookouts. So, he's collecting material to do just that.

He has written about Joy McLaughlin's 13 seasons on Harl Butte. Also retired military, in his spare time McLaughlin "spit and polished" the rocky butte including landscaping a heart-shaped driveway around the flag pole to show his love for the American flag, Olie said. It was McLaughlin who trained Olie on the firefinder.

Between McLaughlin, Olie and the watcher on Idaho's Horse Mountain Lookout, they kept the dispatcher busy. Olie set a personal record of reporting 47 smokes in 1989, the year of the Summit Ridge and Canal Creek fires. From Wing Ridge, the latter marched inexorably toward Wallowa Lake. It was finally halted by a wind change. The scar is visible from the foot of the lake.

Hat Point is Olie's favorite — in spite of the fact he had a heart attack there in 2000 — because it gets the most visitors. "I like people," he said.

Because of Olie's experience, the Forest Service transferred him to Harl Butte Lookout after McLaughlin retired. The building is on the ground where the lookout checks fuels sticks for moisture content, and reports this and other weather information.

Two years ago, Olie the Hat Point kid returned to his favorite lookout to check out Doug Cracraft, who has manned Hat Point since Olie left. One of Olie's Hat Point stories is about a visitor who showed up at the 6,982-foot overlook with a boat on top of his rig. He asked Olie how to get it down to the river. "Seven miles down that trail," was the response.

Next summer people can look up Olie at Harl Butte lookout. In the meantime he's barbering at Don Martin's barber shop on Main Street in Enterprise.