In July this year I tried to make my database in my research about the Swedish born soldiers to be more complete. In this case to add photographs of their final resting places, their headstones and the names on the memorials, where those Swedes who doesn’t have a known grave, are commemorated.
This is the story about the second Swedish soldier I visited during my latest tour.
Andrew Olsen (Anders Olsson)
Andrew Olsen was born as Anders Olsson in Järvsö parish, Gävleborgs county, in the landscape of Hälsingland. He was born November 25th, 1891.
The Olsson family emigrated from Sweden to Queensland in Australia, in May, 1899, when Andrew was around eight years old.
23 year old Andrew Olsen volunteered for service in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and joined on 8 July 1915. His papers don’t mention his Swedish origin but instead he claimed he was born in Yangan, Queensland. He arrived at Suez on 7 December 1915 and six months later left Alexandria to join the forces in France.
His brother, Peter Olsen, born as Per Olof Olsson in Järvsö parish as well, joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) as Peter William Olsen, when he was working as a farmer in Turua, New Zealand. Peter Joined the NZEF in 1916, and sadly fell in the third battle of Ypres, October 4th, 1917.
Andrew Olsen fell in the battle of Fromelles, July 19, 1916, one day before Charles Franklin, who are mentioned in part one, in my earlier blog post. He was fighting for the 31st Australian Infantry battalion.
They were fighting south of the Cardonnerie Farm, east of the 55th Battalion, which Fryklund fought for. Andrew is today buried and mentioned at the V.C Corner Cemetery and Memorial near Fromelles, France, among four other Swedish born soldiers, who still today are mentioned as names of the soldiers, as the remains which haven’t been able to identify.
V.C. Corner Cemetery was made after the Armistice. It contains the graves of 410 Australian soldiers who died in the Attack at Fromelles and whose bodies were found on the battlefield, but not a single body could be identified. It was therefore decided not to mark the individual graves, but to record on a memorial the names of all the Australian soldiers who were killed in the engagement and whose graves were not known. The memorial was built to commemorate nearly 1,300 Australian casualties.
I did not have a proper photo of his name with a Swedish flag, so I took a new photo on my tour earlier in July this year.
Andrew are not likely among those who were buried in the mass grave near Pheasant wood, as the Germans called it. The Australian papers says that Andrew were initially buried in the vicinity of Fleurbaix, north of Fromelles, but that grave can have been destroyed during the later fightings in the area.
There is an article from 2020 on the website of Commonwealth Grave Commission, where they mention some more information about the Olsen Family and their connection to Sweden.
May Anders rest in peace, wherever he is.
We will remember them.