Author: Jocke Hallberg

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.

It is sometimes very interesting to scroll around in the archives of the Great War. I find it interesting to put the different pieces together, to discover what the Swedish born soldiers went through during their service.

In this short story I have tried to follow in the steps of the son of a Wholesale merchant from Stockholm, and how he tragically ended his last days after having survived the war, after been with the Canadian forces in Siberia.

In the Canadian archive I found this little note who looked interesting in itself. What does it mean? Let’s find out.

This is the story of Sergeant Ernest Sune Ekstrom.

Ernest was born as Ernst Sune Ekström in Hedvig Eleonora parish in Stockholm on November 16, 1874. In his Canadian attestation papers it says November 16th, 1879, but that is probably a misread or a typo. Sometimes they wanted to say that they were younger than they were, so it can be like that in this case. We will never know.

He grew up with his mother Christina Elisabeth Ekström and his father Wilhelm Moritz Ekström, together with his two brothers and five sisters.

There is not specific note in any of the church books I have found that says when he emigrated from Sweden, but there is a note that he is moved to the book of absent citizens.

I have found a passenger list that says that Ernst left Sweden for North America in 1901, at an age of 27.

In July 1902 Ernest married a Swedish born girl, Anna Carolina Deurell, born in Adolf Fredrik parish in Stockholm in 1877. Ernest got naturalized in Illinois in 1902. They got married in Berrien, Michigan. According to Canadian census documents from 1910 Ernest lived with Anna in Chicago, Illinois, together with Anna’s family.

It is not known if Ernest was a volunteer or if he was drafted to the Canadian Army, but he signed his Canadian attestation papers on February 28th, 1918, which is after the Canadian Military Service Act. He didn’t mention his wife as his Next of Kin, instead he mentioned his brother, Harold (Harald Moritz), back in Sweden. He seems to have been working at the News magazine Aftonbladet, a very large newspaper site today.

Although, I haven’t found any documents that says that he moved to Canada, and I haven’t found any US draft documents. Who knows what happened before he decided to sign up for the Canadian Forces? He stated that he lived at the Normandy Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, and we can only guess why he did that.

Maybe I will find the reason later on. There are some divorce documents about a Ernest Eckstrom, from 1919, in Michigan, that can be a reason for why he ended up where he did. In this case I am not sure if it is the correct Ernest Ekstrom.

Ernest was a dentist and he was initially attached in the 4th Canadian Advanced Depot Medical Stores, as a dental surgeon. According to his dental history sheet, he may have performed some dental work on himself. No good status according to me.

He left Canada with his unit on October 11th, 1918 and arrived Siberia on October 26th, 1918.

Then he seems to have been into a lot of trouble. According to some text noted in the personal documents connected to Ernest, it seems that he have been involved into some situations according to theft. I have tried to transcribe the document below. At the moment described below the text is written by the Officer in Command of the 16th Field Ambulance in Vladivostok.

“- Awarded 6 months D.H.L (Hard labour?) by the General Court Martial for when on active service committing a civil offence is to say “theft” in that he at Vladivostok on April 12, 1919 under pretence of paying 950 Roubles stole from Henrick Ceren (?) a receipt for the said sum.

– When on active service committing a civil offence that is to say “theft” in that he in Vladivostok on or about March 9, 1919 having received from Kirill Mammayev (?) the sum of 250 Roubles for the purchase of sugar fraudulently converted the same to his own use”

You may recognize the name Mammayev from the note, showed early in this post. Maybe that was one of the receipts?

Could he have been into something within producing alcohol? My guess may have a connection to his fate just a short period after those events.

No matter what he embarked S.S Empress in Siberia to be transported home to Canada on May 19th, 1919. He was later on discharged from the Canadian Army on June 13th, 1919.

Tragically he died in his bed in the Boarding House on Queens Avenue, London, Ontario, Canada, on June 30th, 1919. He was probably poisoned by “drinking wood alcohol” according to the notes.

I can’t help that I feel a bit sad for Ernst Sune Ekström. I wonder why his life had to end like that. I wonder if he did a good job in his service in Siberia. Not many soldier served in the Siberia region, and not many Swedish born soldiers as I know of at this moment.

Ernest Sune Ekstrom is today buried at London Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Ontario, Canada. May he rest in peace.

On his stone the word “Studiosus” is mentioned which can mean “eager, keen, full of zeal”. In Swedish it means “Ivrig, full av iver”.

In my research I have mainly mentioned the Swedish soldiers who fought and fell in the war, but I seldom mention those who fought, got scarred, but survived.

Even if they didn’t pay the ultimate price, it doesn’t mean they made less than those who survived.

This is the story about the young Swede who immigrated to North America and served with the Canadian forces, Gustave Adolph Soderström.

Gustave was born as Gustav Adolf Söderström, October 12th, 1896, in the parish of Kloster, Eskilstuna, in the landscape of Södermanland, Sweden.

Gustav grew up with his mother Victoria Albertina Carlsson, who later became the wife to Ernst Theodor Söderström. It is from Ernst Söderström Gustav got his surname, as Gustav’s father is unknown. Victoria and Ernst got married in 1898, and later Gustav got two more siblings in Sweden, within his mother’s new marriage.

In passenger lists I can find that his mother Victoria emigrated to North America with her three children in April 1905. In the list it is mentioned that they were heading for Braddock, Pennsylvania.

Victoria’s husband, Ernst, emigrated in advance already in September 1904. The family was extended with two more siblings to Gustav, Elon Ragnar, born in Braddock and Helen Mabel, born in Brantford, Canada.

Sadly I can also read that Gustav got one more sibling in Braddock, Ragnhild Wiktoria, in August 1906, but she later died already in 1907.

It looks like the family went back to Sweden in 1920, but on that list I can’t find Gustav Adolf, as he stayed in Canada.

Gustav signed his Canadian attestation papers in Brantford, Canada, October 22nd, 1915, at the age of 19. As I can see his sister Helen Mabel was born in Brantford in 1916, I assume that the whole family had moved there. I can see in Canadian census papers that Gustav moved to Brantford in 1913.

Gustav initially belonged to 125th Canadian overseas battalion, but was transferred to the 4th Canadian Infantry battalion when he went overseas. He left Halifax, Canada, for Liverpool, England, on August 6th, 1916.

He seems to have been a good soldier as he received the Good Conduct Badge in the field on October 22nd, 1917.

Gustav went through a lot of action during his service in Belgium and France. On September 1st, 1918, his unit got order to capture Buissy and Baralle and the Bridge heads of Canal Du Nord in the immediate front.

On September 1st, Gustav was wounded by Gunshot in his left leg and in his left arm. Later that day it got much worse. He became badly wounded by shrapnel in his right thigh and leg. That lead to amputation above the knee on September 2nd, 1918.

Those days in the beginning of September 1918 the Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line went on and as I understand many soldiers and officers performed well, and that led to that Gustav received the Military Cross for his actions those days. Gustav left invalided for Canada on June 30th, 1919.

I haven’t been able to find any more citation connected to his medal, but will try to look for it in other sources.

Gustav lived on his life in Canada, and below we can see a photo of him and his family (on a funeral) where we can see that his right leg is amputated.

In late January 1946 Gustav went to St. Christie Hospital in Toronto, Canada, affected by a stroke. His wife Ann Pritchard Soderstrom was by his side when he passed away on February 6th, 1947.

He is buried Mount Hope Cemetery in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

I will tell more stories about those Swedish born soldiers who fought the war but survived. I think it is important to tell their stories as well. May Gustav rest in peace.