It will not be finished yet, but it slowly takes shape, my second book, which will contain the stories about the 153 Swedish born soldiers who are buried or commemorated at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. In the great American archives they have, at this moment, digitized around 6,8 % of the documents containing the correspondence about the soldiers that are buried abroad. Those can be obtained within Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General in the archives.
Many of the Swedish descendants, who still lived in Sweden at the time of their relatives death on the battlefield, wasn’t fluent in the english language. They had to communicate in Swedish, and the American Government had to have support from people who knew the Swedish language, which must have meant extra long time in the ongoing conversations, which also was made by sending letters back and forth, between Sweden and North America.
One example of this is the letter from the mother of the Swedish soldier John R Anderson (Johan Ragnar Anderson). Johan was born in Högsäter parish, Dalsland, Sweden, on August 11th, 1891 and raised by his mother Anna Paulina Helldén and his father, Anders Magnus Jonasson.
Johan emigrated to North America in March 1911. He lived in Priest River in Idaho when he was drafted in June 1917. He stated his uncle, John F Falk, as his Next of Kin. He left for France with his unit, 157th Infantry Regiment, on August 7th, 1918.
He was fighting with 305th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division, AEF, when he was killed in action on October 4th, 1918. Through the American archives we can read the circumstances of his death.
In the documents we can also find the letter from his mother Anna, who wrote about a very sad situation, from her home in Högsäter in Sweden. Below you can find the letter from Anna but also a translation made by someone unknown. Take the time to read the translated text, which probably describes the situation for many parents at that time, who never saw their sons again.
John’s father never got the news about his son’s fate, as Anders died already in April 1918. Anders died in Sweden before his son left for France.
I can imagine it must have been quite difficult for the American organisation, to find individuals who were able to act as translators for the correspondence between parents, siblings or other connections to the deceased soldiers.
John is buried at the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery in France, and I have visited him a couple of times, thinking that he may met his parents again far from the world we live in today. May he rest in peace.
Johan Ragnar Andersson and his fate will be mentioned in my upcoming book, among all the other Swedes who are buried and commemorated there.