Soldiers – Swedes in the Great War 1914-1919

2026-02-072026-02-07

Swedish traces along Chemin Des Dames – Rebuild of the village of Craonne.

When reading the book by the Swedish author, Nils Fabiansson, “Historien om Västfronten – I spåren av första världskriget” , I find a really interesting story about the rebuild of the village of Craonne, north-west of the French city of Reims, in the Aisne-Marne area.

After an email from a great American fellow battlefield explorer friend, Paul Osman, I decided to look more into the Swedish connections to the village of Craonne.

In the townhall of the Craonne, there is a black Memorial plaque placed, with the following text:

The text translated to english:

Sweden
who, in memory of its sons
who fell while serving France
near Craonne
donated this town hall
to the heroic city of Craonne.

In 1918, the Swedish-French friendship association L’Amitié Franco-Suédoise was formed. As early as November 1918, the “Swedish colony in Paris”, as they called themselves, began collecting funds “for the devastated cities and villages of France”. When a call for the collection was circulated in Sweden in early January 1920, the Paris Swedes had already collected 50,000 francs. The call was signed by 84 people, including Hjalmar Branting, Carl Eldh, Selma Lagerlöf, Ellen Key, Torgny Segerstedt, Hjalmar Söderberg and Nathan Söderblom. (fabiansson.blogspot.com)

Another very well-known Entente friend at the time and interesting person for this book had signed the appeal, the author and Baroness Marika Stiernstedt, who had already initiated collections for Belgium’s homeless and fatherless in the autumn of 1914.

Marika Stjernstedt – A cousin to Foch´s Chief of Staff!

In the Swedish newspaper of “Stockholmstidningen” from December 2nd, 1915, I read about the Baroness Stjernstedt, who visited the frontline as one of very few women at that time, who had the opportunity to do that. In the text I can read the text about his relationship to the Chief of Staff in the staff of French General Ferdinand Foch, but I haven’t done any more research about that at the moment.

For a couple of months in September–November 1915, on the advice of the then Swedish envoy in Bern, Count Albert Ehrensvärd, she had travelled by train via Germany and Switzerland to France, where she had met French soldiers and visited prisoner-of-war camps and even been shown trenches at the front for three days. Returning to Sweden, in December 1915, she had given four lectures entitled “A Lone Woman at the Front” at the KFUM (YMCA) and “Folkets hus”, Citizen Hall, in Stockholm and one at the KFUM in Uppsala. The emphasis of the lecture had been on the three visits to the front in Champagne. (fabiansson.blogspot.com)

She had also written about the trip in several articles in, for example in the Swedish newspapers, “Dagens Nyheter” and “Social-Demokraten”. In addition to the lectures, she had held a “photography exhibition” in Stockholm in December 1915. She had also shown her “unpretentious ‘war museum’”, as she called it, at a war exhibition that the Swedish newspaper “Svenska Dagbladet” had arranged in Stockholm.

During her lectures from the trip to France, she had had the tricolor hanging behind her. According to the newspaper reports, she had been constantly interrupted by applause, but about twenty people had also left the room the first evening when she raised the issue of German “horrible things”. French had been spoken in every row of seats and in the audience, among others, Hjalmar Branting (Swedish Prime Minister in 1920) had been noted, and he had not been one of those who left.

Two years later, in the spring of 1918, Stiernstedt’s small work from France, “the fourth year of the war“, had been published after a second trip to France at the turn of the year 1917–1918, a trip that had also been followed by lectures in Stockholm, Uppsala, Gothenburg and a number of cities in, among others, Dalsland, Värmland, Mälardalen and Småland during February and March 1918.

At the armistice, she had once again been in France and the following year she had published, together with Anna Lindhagen, the work “Témoignages suédois 1914–1919“, a kind of assurance by several Swedish intellectuals that they had been on the right side during the war.

For the French Swedes who fell in the War

On October 8, 1920, the mayor of Craonne received 555,000 francs from the Swedish collection, which would be enough for a new town hall. Barely a year later, on August 23, 1921, the mayor was able to receive a further 162,101 francs from Sweden.

The reason to give the specific money to rebuild the village of Craonne was described as follows:

“The intention is to donate the collected funds to the small town of Craonne, which now lies in ruins and this place has been chosen especially because the Swedish volunteers who participated in the war received their baptism of fire there and also several of them fell there. The funds are intended primarily for the construction of the town hall, on which building a memorial tablet should for the future commemorate both the Swedish volunteers who fell there and the sympathy for France’s heavy suffering during the war, which has been expressed in this collection.“

Swedish foreign legionnaires were near Craonne in the spring of 1915, more precisely in the neighboring village of Craonelle, but the Swedes probably never fell at Craonne. The forces from the Foreign Legion that fought with the Moroccan Division, and to which the Swedish foreign legionnaires belonged, were at the time of the Nivelle Offensive in 1917 in Champagne, just over fifty kilometers from Craonne.

The 38-year-old August Sporre Wend Pettersson from Förkärla parish in the landscape of Blekinge fell on April 24th 1917, “au secteur d’Aubérive (Marne)”, as it is very briefly stated in the army archive index, i.e. during the diversionary offensive east of Reims, which began a couple of days after Chemin des Dames.

The photo of Petterson that I have received through a Danish connection:

At least one more Swede in the Foreign Legion died in 1917. It was the 39-year-old Gustave Wirén from Nyköping, who, according to his registration card, died in a military hospital in Chaumont-sur-Aire south of Verdun on September 5, 1917. When and where he received his injuries is not clear, but the legion also fought at Verdun in August 1917. His grave is in Rembercourt-Sommaisne, in a war cemetery that was established after the war half a mile from Chaumont. I visited his grave in the summer of 2023.

In total, 16 Swedes, who fought for the French Foreign Legion, fell during the Great War.

The 40-year-old road and bridge contractor Johan Malm from Hässleholm made a slightly longer visit to the famous village of Craonne when he visited the Chemin des Dames as a battlefield tourist in March 1923. (fabiansson.blogspot.com)

He wrote:

“The towns are generally not rebuilt on their former site. They were all situated on the slopes of the Chemin des Dames ridge, nestled among forests and vineyards and orchards. But in these now inhospitable surroundings, the new towns are not built, but are located on the adjacent, cleared plain near the former location. The town of Craonne, which was the largest of them, was thus rebuilt a couple of kilometers south of the ruins.

The new city now consists of a couple of hundred temporary wooden shacks regularly placed along wide avenues and future boulevards, which, however, still consist of grassy pastures. The wooden shacks will gradually be replaced by stone houses, and the streets will be prepared when there is time and money. […] A large part of the Chemin des Dames ruin field will not be repaired. The destruction is so extensive that it is not considered possible to afford it. […] At a place on a hill near the ruins of Craonne, a granite monument has been erected, the inscription of which reads, “that the ruin fields will remain for all time, as monuments to the devastation and criminal madness of war and the brutal advance of the Germans”

He mention the villages as towns and cities but were probably just villages.

I really hope I will have the opportunity to visit the village of Craonne on trips to the battlefields in the future.

The two books from Nils Fabiansson about the Western Front, “Swedes in the First World War” and “The history of the Western Front” are among the best Swedish books about the specific subject, that I have read. His books made me look into the Great War, and have been a great inspiration to my own research about the Swedes who fell in the Great War.

2026-01-312026-01-31

A Swede in South African Ranks: A Tale from the Great War

Introduction

From the 17th century and mainly during the 19th century, thousands of Swedes emigrated to South Africa. The reasons were mainly trade, religion and work opportunities, especially to work in the gold and diamond mines.

There are still around 4000 Swedes living in the southern part of Africa, mainly in South Africa. (2021). The figures may differ in 2025, as no specific details are available at the moment.

When searching for Scandinavian names in the database of Commonwealth War Grave Commission I find a lot of names within this category. At the moment I have 188 Swedes who served and died in the Great War in my database. They are divided as follows; Canadian Units 118, Australian Units 60, New Zealand Units 3, British Units 6, and South African Units 1. (January 2026)

These figures may differ as I am still researching very actively within my subject.

The sailor from Stigsjö parish

Pvt Richard Emanuel Nydahl was born on May 17th, 1880 in Stigsjö parish in the Västernorrland county, in the landscape of Ångermanland. He was raised by his parents, his mother Katarina Theodora Anneli Charlotta Lundqvist, and his father Carl Gustaf Nydahl.

Richard Emanuel is noted as absent from early 1900 in the Swedish Church books, and there is no specific date when he emigrated from Sweden. It is common when it comes to those sailors who often left Sweden on their normal voyages and never came back, as they jumped ship in other countries, especially in North America, Australia, New Zealand, according to the facts about the other Swedish sailors I have in my research.

Richard ended up in Cape Town, South Africa and got married to Christina Holtmase in October 1904. His profession is then mentioned as Constable.

riksarkivet.se, eniro and Arkiv Digital.

Military Service in the Boer War

Before he married Christina, Richard served in several units connected to South African Forces. From January 9th, 1901 to April 11th, 1901 he served in Warrens Mounted Infantry (WMI) and later joined the Cape Police from September 16th, 1901 to the end of Second Boer War, May 31st, 1902.

The unit served in different situations during the Boer War in normal war duties but also to to look after the numerous rebels and suspects who were caught during the actions.

I can see other Scandinavian names in the lists and will maybe one day look further into these as well.

Scandinavian units on the Boer side

Richard Nydahl fought on the British side during the Boer War, but there were quite many Scandinavians who fought on the Boer side. According to information on the web page angloboerwar.com, with the main source from the Swedish author Stellan Bojerud, there were around 58 Swedish volunteers together with individuals from Denmark, Norway and Finland. Below a photo of some of the Scandinavians, in the Scandinavian Corps, with their founder, Christer Uggla.

Service in the 1st South African Regiment

At the moment there is not so much information about rosters or other military service documents to find online about the soldiers who served in the South African units in the Great War. I have now emailed the South African National Archive and I hope they will be able to provide me with more information about the service of Richard Emanuel Nydahl.

Richard served in the 1st Battalion in the 1st South African Regiment, when he died from Influenza on October the 18th, 1918. I will try to find more information about when he joined the British Expeditionary Forces and where he served before he died.

He is today buried at the CWGC Brookwood Military Cemetery, just west of the Brookwood American Cemetery. You can read more about the Swedes in the American Cemetery in my previous article.

In the beginning his name was spelled with an M, Mydahl, but it was later changed to Nydahl, as shown on the photos to the right. Richard died at an age of 38.

It will be interesting to see if I can find more information about other Swedes who fought in South African units. May Richard Emanuel Nydahl rest in peace.

2026-01-252026-01-26

Invisible Sacrifice: Commemorating Those Who Served Without Reaching the Frontline

I will change my narrative.

I will develop my research to not only include the Swedish born soldiers, who fought and fell in the Great War, and are buried along the western front, In Belgium and France, but also those Swedes who became a soldier in an organisation, left their home base and went for service to another country.

I will include those who met their fate on their way to the battlefields, and those who were soldiers and officers who were placed behind the lines to support the others who went to the frontline.

I will also include those who served and survived, as I think their stories are very important to remember. They had the chance to tell the world when they came home, even if some of them just wanted to forget.

Does this mean that I will include those who went from their homes to the unit camps, but never left for service? Probably I will, but I will change this gradually, to maybe one day end up with a solid database with facts regarding all of those Swedish born soldiers and other individuals, like nurses, who became a person in a organisation and sacrificed their life trying their best to change the outcome of the Great War. I have now made a slight change to my title and subtitle on my web page, to reflect my expanding research.

I will remember them all.

Background

The armistice occurred on November 11th, 1918, at 11 minutes over 11 am, but the war continued after that on several other locations. According to Commonwealth War Grave Commission, CWGC, 31^st August 1921 marks the date when the First World War officially ended. It is also the date that the last casualties who died during or as a result of the conflict are commemorated by the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC).

The official, latest date for an American death in WWI, often recognized for eligibility for federal, government-furnished memorialization is also August 31^st, 1921.

The Swedes at Brookwood American Cemetery

In this small article I will mention some of those soldiers who went towards the battlefields, served in their units, but never came home again, even if they never saw the frontline.

This is not fully accurate, as one of the soldiers went down with a American transport ship, which was torpedoed by German submarines, and in my mind I call that a frontline as well, but not on land.

Pvt Charles E Anderson

Charles E Anderson was born as Karl Einar Per Andersson Zetterström in Johannes parish in Stockholm, on April 8th, 1896.

He emigrated from Sweden in September 1913, and lived in a hotel in Westwood, California, when he was drafted on June the 5th, 1917. I haven’t been able to find notes in the normal church books about his emigration, however, the old “Rådmansarkivet” from Stockholm, gave me some information.

On March 25th, 1918, he went over to Europe and was stationed in Stonehenge, England, with his unit, the 377th Aero Squadron. He never went over to France, as the unit served as an maintenance and support unit.

Charles died in an aircraft accident on October 30th, 1918, according to the American Burial card, even if the the book about the American soldiers says that he was killed in action. I haven’t been able to find other details at the moment about the accident. Charles was a Private and probably ground base personnel and highly likely not a pilot.

Sources: NARA, Rådmansarkivet and Ancestry.

Pvt Anton W Lundell

Anton W Lundell was born as Anton Waldemar Hildebrand Lundell in Forserum parish, Jönköping county, on July 7th, 1893.

He emigrated from Sweden in June 1911, and lived in Chicago Heights, Illinois, when he was drafted on June the 5th, 1917.

On May 23rd, 1918, he was on his way over to Europe with his unit, the 58th American Infantry Regiment, 4th Division, when their steamship “Moldavia”with reinforcement soldiers was struck by a torpedo from a German submarine. 480 soldiers from the regiment was onboard the ship and 55 soldiers from Company B went down with the ship.

According to the British War Department the soldiers should have been on deck when passing a dangerous zone, but there hasn’t been proved that the soldiers were inside the ship or on deck when the torpedo struck the ship, or if some of the soldiers were stationed according to the rules. Anton is mentioned on the wall of the missing at the Brookwood Cemetery.

Sources: Arkiv Digital, Swedish-American Newspapers, Riksarkivet and Ancestry.

Pvt Alfred Nelson

Alfred Nelson was born as Alfred Nilsson in Trolle Ljungby parish, Kristianstad parish, on September 13, 1886.

He emigrated from Sweden to North America in March, 1903, and he lived in Welch, Goodhue county, Minnesota, when he was drafted on June 5th, 1917.

Alfred left the USA with his unit, Company A, 332nd Machine Gun Battalion, 86th Division, on September 11th, 1918. Alfred had just arrived to England when he sadly died from the cause of Pneumonia on September 28, 1918. That cause of death was very common during the actual period.

Many American soldiers were ill already in America, and the “Spanish Flu” spread quickly among the soldiers, and was brought over to the units already in England and France. The flu was not originated from Spain, but from Kansas in the USA, in the beginning of 1918.

Pvt 1/cl. John Gunnard Sandquist

John Gunnard Sandquist was born as Johan August Gunnar Sandquist in Åseda parish, Kronoberg county, in Småland, on September 4th, 1891.

John emigrated from Sweden to North America in August 1906, and he lived in Avalon, Rock county, Wisconsin, when he was drafted on June 5th, 1917.

He left the USA with his unit, Company L, 343rd Infantry Regiment, 86th Division, somewhere between 2nd and 14th of September, 1918. The 86th Division arrived England before the units were deployed to France. Like Alfred Nelson, John became ill and died of Pneumonia on October 9th, 1918.

Pvt Edwin Swanson

Edwin Swanson is believed to be born as Edvin Svensson in Halland county in Sweden. I haven’t been able to confirm him in any Swedish church book, however, Edwin mentioned in his draft that he was born in Linköping, Östergötland, on July 11th, 1894, but in his American Naturalisation papers he wrote that he was born on July 12th, 1894.

On one page on Ancestry he is mentioned to be born in Genkoping, which is interpreted as Jönköping, which is a town 130 km south of Linköping. I have tried every combination, but still not able to find any correct Edvin in the Swedish church books.

Edwin mentioned in his American Naturalisation papers that he emigrated from Sweden in 1911. He lived in Reynolds, Rock Island county, Illinois when he was drafted on June 5th, 1917. He signed his papers in the camp and got married to his wife Grace before he left for Europe.

Edwin left the USA for England with his unit, Company C, 333rd Machine Gun Battalion, 86th Division, on the same date as John Gunnard Sandquist, between 2nd and 14th of September, 1918. As the latest two soldiers mentioned above, Edwin also died of Pneumonia, on September 29th, 1918.

Edwin, John Gunnard and Alfred, all died of Pneumonia, and they all belonged to 86th Division, in the 332nd, 333rd and 343rd Infantry Regiments, and they all went over in the same period. The Flu could have been brought on the sam ship or among the soldiers within the same Division.

I haven’t been able to find if they went over on the same vessel, when they went over to Europe and England.

None of the soldiers mentioned above reached the Frontline in France or Belgium, but they were soldiers in units meant to participate in the War, and that is the reason for why I choose to commemorate them as well. They are all today buried and commemorated in the Brookwood American Cemetery in Surrey, south.west of London in England.

In addition to those five soldiers mentioned above, there is one more who is mentioned on the wall of the missing at the Brookwood American Cemetery. He is the Medal of Honor recipient Gustaf Adolph Sundquist.

You can read more about him in my article through this link.

So far I have only mentioned those who fought and fell, or died of disease in Belgium or France, along the Western Front, in my database, and I have so far noted 595 soldiers within those criteria.

I will now change my narrative to also include the circumstances around the Swedish born soldiers mentioned above, together with those I know will fall within my now extended criteria, as I think they deserve it.

Through this extended criteria, I have now passed the 600 number in my database, and it will be more. They are not forgotten.

We will remember them.

2026-01-11

A Soldier’s Heart: Love Amid the Great War

Sometimes intense situations in life can lead to completely new tracks. I was reading digitized old Swedish newspapers from the period between 1914 to 1921, to scan them for interesting information about Swedish born soldiers and their fate during the Great War.

Most of the information is dark and tragic, but this time a small note caught my eyes.

“A Swedish-French War Wedding”. Of course I had to investigate it further about what these words meant.

The small note described the wedding between the Swedish born Sergeant in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), Nils Widstrand, and miss Marthe Dubeau.

Nils Widstrand was born as Nils Wilhelm Gösta Widstrand in Hedvig Eleonora parish in Stockholm, September 2nd, 1895. He grew up in Stockholm and became a reporter as a son to a Swedish Publisher, his father Otto Wilhelm Widstrand.

Nils emigrated from Sweden through Norway, to North America in 1916, and lived in Toledo, Lucas, Ohio, when he was drafted on June 5th, 1917. He went over to France with his unit, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, AEF, in November 1917.

In July 1918 his unit was ordered to take a village near Soissons. The name of the village is not known. When I read about the fightings in the history of the 1st Division, and the fightings in July, 1918, it can have been the village of Saconin-et-Breuil, just South-West of Soissons.

The unit with Nils Widstrand reached and took their objectives, and they also took some German prisoners, and put them in a basement. When the situation was over it showed that the Germans had taken some women and had kept them as prisoners. Two specific women showed up. The younger of them turned up to be Marie Madelaine Marthe Dubeau, said in the article to be the daughter of a French Captain, Victor Dubeau, who , according to the daughter, had fallen in the War.

I haven’t been able to find a document that shows the death of a French Captain called Victor Dubeau, but I will ask some of my fellow Great War connections in the Great War Group, if they can help me. It may be some different spellings in the French documents.

Marie Dubeau was born in Montendre, France, on June 25th, 1898. She was raised by her mother Louise Virginie Bernard and her father, Victor Dubeau.

She was, according to the article, very happy to have been released from the Germans soldiers by the American soldiers. Marie said that she wanted to wait in the village before she was sure that her father had received a proper burial.

Then everything seems to have happened very fast.

Nils Widstrand left France with his unit in September 1919. Nils and Marie got married in Bourges in France on July 31st, when Nils still was in France. When I look into some archives it seems like Nils got naturalized through American authorities in Germany in December 1918.

According to the documents found in archives Marie applied for travel documents, to be able to travel to the USA, in August 1918. The document was only valid in France, and for the voyage to the USA.

In the States the Swedish-French couple became parents to two children, their son Herbert, born in November 1919, just a few months after Nils arrived from France, and their daughter Anne Ester, born in December 1920.

I have managed to find some photos that shows Nils, Marie, Henry, and Anne Ester.

The photo of Nils and Henry is from a passport application in 1921, when Nils went home to Sweden to visit his father. Nils mother died in 1910, and his father remarried in 1913. The other photo of Marie and her daughter Anne Ester is from a passport application in November 1921, when they went to Sweden to meet up with the rest of the family.

The adventure that started during an American attack on German positions, which lead to a marriage between a Swedish born soldier and a French girl, lead to a family of four and ended with the family moving to Sweden.

Nils and Marie both died 1960. Marie died in April 1960, and Nils died in November 1960. From the Swedish census documents I know that their son Herbert lived with his parents in Stockholm 1940. The daughter Anne Ester got married to Hans Tillberg in Sweden 1940. I find her living with her parents in Solna, Stockholm, in 1950.

Both Nils and Marie are buried in Norra begravningsplatsen Cemetery in Solna, Stockholm.

I was glad to find this information in the old Swedish newspaper, that shows that not only bad things comes out from war, even if that is true in most cases.

I hope the family had a good life in Sweden. I hope I will find out how it went with Marie’s father Victor Dubeau, the French officer, who died in the war, when searching for more information in the future.

2026-01-062026-01-06

Identifying Swedish Soldiers in World War I: A Historical Investigation

Sometimes I just give up. I have tried so many times to find facts in differents archives, but I can’t get any further in my work to try to identify and confirm names of the soldiers I have in my research that stated they were born in Sweden when they signed their registration papers to become soldiers in their new countries.

Something tells me that I can’t give up, and now and then I succeed, which gives me energy to continue the search and my work trying to confirm who they were to find and confirm their names in the Swedish Church Books. It isn’t easy and it takes time.

During the latest years I have increased my skills in how to search and which data I can assume be something else than it shows.

In this article I will mention a few examples of how I have succeeded and what I still have left to investigate.

I have still 13 soldiers in my research that I have marked in red in my database, which means that they have stated they were born in Sweden, and most of the data points in that direction, but I can’t confirm them until I have found their real identity in the Swedish book of birth. The majority of the unconfirmed soldiers are from the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.

I have, for a long period been trying to find and Identify the Canadian soldier Lindor Nelson, stated to have been born in “Sweedon” and with the date of birth June 6th, 1885.

Lindor is not a common name in Sweden at that time. I have learned that Nelson can in most cases be the Swedish surname of Nilsson. If I use the data presented like his name and date of birth, I will not find any connection.

In the Swedish church books the surname is often left out, as they are mentioned with their name if mentioned together with his family, where the parents are mentioned with both name and surname, so I can’t search for Lindor Nilsson, just his name.
Lindor could be a version of another name, Linder, which were still uncommon back at that time. No Linder with that date of birth was found.
I have to look for more data to use in my investigation

Looking at the document from the Canadian archives, there are some other clues. I find the name Laura Nelson, stated as his mother, and I can see the name of the village, Tocksfors, which has been changed a couple of times in the document, and that is probably Töcksfors.

I can also see the name of Olga Nelson, even if it is covered a bit. Then we have Laura, Olga and Töcksfors to use in my further investigation.

I use paid services, like the Swedish archive online software, like Arkiv Digital, where I can search with different combinations, but it isn’t easy if I don’t know the method, which I have learned during my intense usage of the program.

Yesterday I tried the combinations of the above known data, and finally, after quite a long time, I may have found the correct data. Could this be Lindor Nelson?

From the parish of Töcksmark, not Töcksfors, I find the Nilsson family with the head, Nils August Nilsson, the mother Laura Abrahamsdotter, the daughter Olga Elvira and the son Elof Linder.

Success!

Could Elof Linder Nilsson be Lindor Nelson? I then use other paid services, like Ancestry, to find other clues like passenger lists etc. In the Swedish church book I haven’t been able to find a note about if Elof Linder emigrated, but through Ancestry I found that he left through Norway and were heading for Canada. He seems to have left in 1914.

It has not been easy to find other Canadian census documents as I don’t know which names or spellings he used, but all in all I can probably say that Lindor Nelson was Elof Linder Nilsson, born February 11th, 1886, and not June 6th, 1885.

The reason for that he didn’t mention his correct date of birth, as he signed his attestation papers for the Canadian Army quite early after his immigration, in October 1915.

Lindor Nelson belonged to the 14th Canadian Infantry Battalion when he was killed in action north-west of Lens, March 6th, 1918. He is today buried in Mazingarbe Communal Cemetery Extension near Noeux-les-mines in France. I visited him a while ago. May he rest in peace, knowing that I have probably found out who he was.

I still have cases that I work on, and here is an example of that I haven’t been able to solve yet, and which I find a bit odd as well.

I am trying to find out if the Canadian soldier Oscar Osk was born in Sweden, as he stated in his registration papers of the Canadian Army. I wrote an article about Oscar osk in July this year, and I am still trying to find out who he was. In this case I have some other data to connect to this investigation.

What is it with the address Ystadsgatan 11?

If I try to search for Oscar or Oskar, with the surname of Osk, in the Swedish church books, combined with the date of birth, I will not be able to find anyone with those data.

The city of Malma, in combination with the word of Scona are probably to be translated to Malmö in Skåne, in the southern part of Sweden.
I have tried to search for the surname “Ask” as it may have sounded like Osk. Ask is a Swedish surname.
I haven’t been able to find any Oscar Ask in the military archives either, as he stated that he had been in the Swedish Army for three years.

One interesting, specific, information in the papers of Oscar Osk is the name and the address of his “father”, Ola Martensson. Martensson is probably Mårtensson, but it can also be Martinsson. The address is also stated to be Ystadsgatan 11 in Malmö.

Someone seems to have found information which connects these two individuals by sticking a label onto the document, and this I find interesting.

Could Oscar Osk be an alias for someone else that is connected to Ola Martenson?

If I search about Ola Martenson in the service of Arkiv Digital, with the name and the address in combination, I find Ola Mårtensson on Ystadsgatan 11. But there is no son with the name Oscar connected to him, born in 1890.

Ola Mårtensson have other children and two of his sons, Otto Leander Olsson and Nils Elof Olsson emigrated from Sweden to North America in 1914. In the passenger list I found the name of the father, Ola Mårtensson, with the address Ystadsgatan 11, in Malmö. You can see it if you look closely into the image, which I have marked with yellow.

Could anyone of these sons be Oscar osk, but with another name? Otto is born in 1891, and Nils is born in 1884.

I searched for more information on Ancestry and I found that Otto Leander Olsson served in the American Expeditionary Force, for the 349th Infantry Regiment, 88th Division, and survived the War. He was also registered for the Second World War. He died in 1966. So Otto couldn’t be Oscar.

Although, I find it very interesting, that the name Ola Mårtensson on Ystadsgatan 11 in Malmö, is connected to those individuals. Did Ola have a son that wasn’t known to others? Were there more Ola Mårtensson who could have lived on the same address? I have to search further on in this case.

Who was this Oscar Osk?

Oscar Osk fought for the 28th Infantry battalion in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, when he was wounded in action on August 21st, 1917, and he later died of wounds on August 24th, 1917.

Oscar is today buried Barlin Communal Cemetery Extension in the region of Pas de Calais, in France. I visited him during the summer of 2025, and right now I still don’t know who you are, Oscar. May you rest in peace. I will one day find out who you were.

I have experienced that in some cases, when it comes to Swedish immigrants to both Canada and North America, that they didn’t want to write in the registration papers that they were from Sweden, for different reasons. Those reasons were connected to time and location. From an American perspective at that time, Sweden was a country with well known connections to Germany.

Although, in some cases I know that individuals wrote that they were from Sweden, even if the weren’t, as they probably thought that they would be treated differently, and maybe not be up for service or conscription.

There were a lot of factors that affected people at that time when it came to serve for your new country, and from my experience there were Swedes who wanted to leave Sweden just for the reason not to serve for the Swedish Army, and were not so happy to be drafted and later serve for their new country either.

But most of the Swedish immigrants thought, according to history documents from that time, it was a natural thing to do, and went into the War with a will to defend the values of their new country. All except one soldier in my research, of those Swedish born soldiers who fell in the War, volunteered for service in The Canadian Army.

One of them was a conscript when Canada came under the Military Service Act in August 1917.

There are still 12 soldiers left to investigate, and I really hope that I will be able to find out who they were, and be able to confirm them in my database. Although, one sorted, and I have to take that positive feeling with me.