As you know I am working with my research about Swedish born soldiers who fought and fell at the Western Front in The Great War, and are buried or commemorated at the Western Front as well. But in my research I also discover those Swedes who were brought home to Sweden. Those individuals will be put into my project, but will have a separate part in the database.
At the moment I am looking through the American archives, and so far, after a quite short time, I have so far found 9 Swedish born soldiers who fit to the above criteria. I will probably find more individuals that have been sent home to Sweden further on in my research.
Below you can find the casualty cards with the information about when they fell and when they were brought home to Sweden, instead of buried at the front, or sent back to relatives in the US.
But I have dicovered that it is very hard to find their final resting place in Sweden, as we don’t have an archive of all graves in Sweden. There are only some pages from people who voluntarily has put up some databases with names from different cemeteries in Sweden, and so far I have managed to find only one headstone and cemetery of the Swedes.
I received it from an person who contacted me through my site, and I will try to visit the place as soon as possible.
Örsjö Cemetery, close to Nybro, Kalmar Municipality.
There is a risk that the headstones are or will be moved from their original place, to the outskirt of the cemetery, as they have to make room for those who is next in line to be buried.
I really hope that I will find the rest of the places, before they are gone, and also the places from those Swedes I probably will find further on. It would be a great honour to commemorate them in their own country.
May all of them rest in peace.
