Russell Townsend Berglund was born on August 9, 1930, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of World War I Army veteran George W. Berglund and Grace Helen Townsend Berglund. He entered the United States Navy during the Korean War era and served aboard the fleet oiler USS Pawcatuck (AO-108). Holly Hill military research documents his Navy service from January 23, 1951, to January 23, 1953, with surviving 1952 records connecting him directly to Pawcatuck. During this period, the ship operated with the Atlantic Fleet and U.S. Sixth Fleet, providing the fuel and logistical support necessary to keep American naval forces underway.
Following his Navy service, Russell built a long family life with his wife, Ethel Goss Berglund, and became the father of Virginia Ann Berglund McCabe and George Stanley Berglund. He remained connected to fellow veterans as a member of the VFW and attended Unity Church in Blairsville. Russell died peacefully at his Blairsville home on May 31, 2019, at the age of eighty-eight and was laid to rest at Holly Hill Veterans Cemetery. There, beside his father George, his memorial preserves another chapter in a Berglund family tradition of military service spanning World War I, World War II, and the Korean War era.