William Haugen was born on 13th August 1922 in Strongfield, Saskatchewan, he was the son of Olai Nelson and Ethyl Katie Haugen, his father was born in Norway and his mother originally from Oregon, USA. Willard attended Pleasant Ridge school and was working as a mechanic at Loreburn when he enlisted in Regina on 30th July 1941. He was the rear gunner in Halifax JD174 when the incident on the North Yorkshire Moors occured in July 1943.

F/Sgt Willard Haugen was sadly killed serving with 405 Squadron only weeks after his incident on the North Yorkshire Moors. Many of the crew involved in the incident to Halifax JD174 were posted to 405 Squadron soon after, 405 Squadron was a Pathfinder Squadron. On the night of 17th/18th August 1943 he was on board Lancaster HR817 tasked with bombing the Peenemunde V-2 rocket test site. Their aircraft left Gransden Lodge at 20.34hrs but strayed too far south on the outbound leg of the flight, the aircraft was shot down by flak over Flensburg and crashed nearby at Friedenshugel. He and his fellow crew members are buried in Kiel War Cemetery, Germany. He was twenty three years old. Saskatchewan province named geological features after it's wardead but there appears to have been no feature named in his honour.