By Mike Finney

DOVER — It takes a ton of perseverance, an abundance of good luck and both enduring mental and physical health to live to be 100 years old.

Fortunately for Dover resident and U.S. Army veteran Arthur “Art” Hashagen, he has all of these traits – especially when it comes to good fortune.

A slew of neighbors and friends gathered in Mr. Hashagen’s front yard on Persimmon Circle West in Wild Meadows on Tuesday afternoon to help him celebrate becoming a centenarian. A pandemic couldn’t even slow down this celebration.

There was a “Cheers to 100 years” banner at the end of the driveway and balloons marking the occasion as Mr. Hashagen sat at a table behind a large blue-and-white 100th birthday cake ready to dig into yet another century.

“I can’t wait to see how it tastes,” Mr. Hashagen said, of the cake, or perhaps another 100 years. “I think the party is wonderful. It makes me happy. I love that so many of these people still recognize and appreciate the service people.

“I’m still hanging in here and getting a good, healthy start to begin my second 100 years.”

Leigh Miller, one of his two daughters, said her father got even more determined to push on during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Even when COVID started, he said, ‘Oh, this is something new to live through. It’s exciting,’” Ms. Miller said. “I guess we’ve never really doubted that he’d make it to 100. This is a milestone, but it’s one of many in his life. There’s nothing that’s going to stop him. I think he’s always been kind of determined.”

Carl Hashagen, one of Mr. Hashagen’s two sons, said that his father grew up “super, super poor during the Great Depression.” It is one of the things that helped give him such strong survival skills, Carl said.

“His plans are to go until he’s 105. That’s his dream,” his son said. “Nothing stopped him his entire life. He just forged on because he just knew he had to. He’s been shot at, he’s been bombed, he’s been burned, electrocuted, run over by a car … He’s just been through a lot.”

There is no doubt that Mr. Hashagen is a survivor.

He was inducted into the U.S. Army on Sept. 28, 1943 and had basic training at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and he arrived in New Guinea on June 14, 1944, during World War II. He also served in Bak, Morotai and in Manila. He was a technical sergeant in an ordnance company where he served as shop foreman.

Mr. Hashagen returned to Fort Dix in New Jersey on June 19, 1946, with a Bronze Star, an Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal and a WWII victory.

His vast mechanical skills were put to use as his Army unit leapfrogged across the Pacific in the Asian Theater. He had a number of narrow escapes. On a reconstructed motor scooter as he traveled alongside a military runway, he escaped strafing by Japanese airplanes.

On another occasion, during a Japanese “Daisy Cutter” bomb attack, he was left unscathed with shrapnel on the ground surrounding him. He was also injured from an electric shock he suffered while repairing a doughnut machine for the Army pilots. After he recovered from the shock, he finished the repairs.

Mr. Hashagen developed his strong work ethic early in his life.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, he left school early and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, building roads and dams. He later worked in the machine shop that created parts for the U.S. Navy as the United States prepared for World War II.

According to Ms. Miller, his mechanical skills were such that he received three draft deferments before being drafted. He preferred the U.S. Navy but was sent to the Army.

After the war

When he came home from World War II, Mr. Hashagen found out that his sister had sold his car, the machine shop business where he previously worked had been sold and the bank foreclosed on his home.

But things were looking up when he married his beloved wife, Virginia, on Oct. 17, 1948. She passed away in 2016.

“That was kind of hard for him but yet, we’ve all kind of stepped in, and he’s still finding new things to interest him,” Ms. Miller said.

Mr. Hashagen’s family includes four children – another daughter, Jill Woschenko, lives with him, and he has another son, Ethan, along with seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

It was Mr. Hashagen’s amazing life story that neighbors and friends all gathered to celebrate on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon.

“Oh, my goodness, this is just so wonderful,” Mary Johnson said. “He’s such a hero. My mother is turning 100 on May 3 and she’s not in nearly as good a shape as he is. It’s just wonderful to think about all of the things that he’s been through.”

A glimpse at the “2019 Profile of Older Americans” report showed that Mr. Hashagen is one of many Americans who are living to become centenarians these days.

In 2018, there were 93,927 persons age 100 and older (0.2% of the total age 65 and older population) – almost triple the 1980 figure of 32,194.

Dover City Councilman Fred Neil, one of Mr. Hashagen’s neighbors, brought a tribute from the city of Dover.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Mr. Neil said, of his neighbor. “Again, in terms of what he’s done during his life is just absolutely amazing. To be able to last this long for everybody is absolutely amazing and so we’re really delighted to have him because he was a very good neighbor for us, and he still is.

“I’ve brought a certificate of recognition and congratulations and it has his history in it. But I think what’s important about it is that he will always be in the city archives because this is a copy that goes to him and the other copy stays with the city archives. So he will be remembered for a long, long, long time.”