This is the story of Mike Harper. He doesn't live here, but he is still a Carlton resident to us. Mike has been with us at Carlton High School since December of 2015. Mike was so nice—in his interview, he brought a lot of his old Navy stuff in for us to see. It was a bunch of pictures of him and his comrades. He had a lot of pictures of where he had been. He had a picture of Australia, which was his favorite place he traveled to. 

Mike Harper is a kind man and he was kind enough to share his history with us so enjoy what you read about his story!

Mike Harper is a very hard working individual. He was in the U.S. Navy. The year 1978, on June 7th, Mike Harper enlisted into the Navy, which was very shortly after his high school graduation.  

He worked in the R Division. In a ship’s yearbook that Mike brought for us to look at, it stated: “R Division-The hull technicians (HT) and Machinery Repairman are the metal fabrication and welding experts of Schofield. The HT’s also take care of the ship's plumbing and direct the repair / emergency parties.”

The division he served in was under the command of LTJG E. Dunn and DCC (SW) Garcia. MR1 (SW) Harper´s comrades were: HT2 (SW) Bradford, HTFN Jacobs, HTFN Daviscourt, HTFN Evans, HTFN Miller, HTFN Matney, and HT3 Nash. HT2 (SW) McComb and HT1 (SW) Carole were the division mates that worked together to keep the ship afloat successfully. With that crew he had many memories which they all share.  

Mike served on the USS Schofield, USS Holland (SS-1), and USS Cole (DDG-67) until he retired in 2007, on September 1st.  He currently works as a janitor at Carlton High School and he helps at the Cloquet Airport as a groundskeeper. 

Mike Harper was everywhere when he was in the U.S Navy. He was deployed to go to Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Alaska, Hawaii and many more. When Mike was in Australian waters, he saw a massive log, later to find out it was not a log but a massive Saltwater crocodile. When Mike went to Hawaii he was only there for a few hours, due to them only stopping for supplies and rest.

Mike Harper has seen lots of cool things in his life. For example, one time he saw a swordfish jump out of the water. Plus, in Japan he went to a seafood restaurant that was surprisingly a boat! On the restaurant boat he could feel the water and the waves crashing below him. He also went to an island that kind of looked like a horse shoe. It was a British base which they were visiting. On one of Mike's travels he saw a submarine. The submarine was colored yellow, which was Mike's first time ever on a submarine.

Australia was Mike´s favorite place that he visited. It was beautiful and the food was different from the everyday meals in America. Mike got some awesome souvenirs from Australia, such as a boomerang. 

We are very thankful for Mike Harper and his contribution to America and the small, but faithful town of Carlton. Mike may not be a resident of Carlton but he is part of our community and he greatly contributes to our school and town every day.