Category: Soldiers

(Updated February 15th, 2025)

My talks about my research around different places in Sweden led me into my specific interest in the 54th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, which belonged to the American Expeditionary Forces in the Great War.

One of the participants in the audience, Sven Söderberg, mentioned that he had some friends back home, who have talked about their descendants who they believed participated in the war, survived, and came back to Sweden again.

In the beginning they talked about one Swede, Per Erick Person (Per Erik Persson) but shortly after they remembered that Per Erick’s friend, Erick Larson (Nils Erik Larson), also served in the same unit, the second battalion, in the the 54th Pioneer Infantry Regiment.

Per Erick Person served in “G” Company and Erick Larson served in “F” company. They left Sweden for North America about the same time.

Per Erick Person and Erick Larson left Sweden in 1911. The year is noted in the Swedish church book, when it comes to Per Erick. When I look at Erick Person, I find that he is noted as absent between year 1912-1914, and finally noted as absent in the “book of absent” in year 1914. The family story says they emigrated together in 1911.

In the period of the US Military Service Act, they felt obliged to give their consent to be drafted, and they were, according to the family story, threatened to sign, by the people in the society. It is not known if they would have done it anyway. Per Erick was a “declarant”, but Erick Larson didn’t specify anything on the line on the draft document, except the word “No”, which he probably answered to the question “Have you declared your intention?” He didn’t specify if he was an Alien, Naturalized Citizen or a Natural-born Citizen.

“Foreign-born members of the armed forces in WWI did not gain citizenship through military service alone. However, to encourage immigrant enlistments and to naturalize servicemen before they shipped out, Congress passed laws to expedite military naturalizations. Under the Act of May 9, 1918, service members only needed proof of enlistment and testimony from two witnesses to naturalize.

The law exempted them from having five years of U.S. residency, filing a declaration (or “first papers”), speaking English, and taking history and civics exams. Since soldiers were often stationed far from home, they could become citizens in any naturalization court. To speed up soldier naturalizations, the Bureau of Naturalization dispatched examiners to military bases and enlisted volunteer attorneys and hastily-trained servicemen as temporary examiners.

Often, judges traveled to bases to hold large, open-air naturalization ceremonies. Under this system a foreign-born soldier could become a citizen in just one day. After the war, Congress passed a series of laws extending most of the benefits of military naturalization to veterans. Eventually, more than 300,000 soldiers and veterans of WWI became U.S. citizens under these laws.”

Source: (PDF – Citizenship and Immigration during the First World War)

Both of them left North America for France on August 30th, 1918, which was quite late into the war. The left on different ships, Italian Liner ships from the port in Newport News in Virginia. They had changed their old Camp gear and clothes to new ones, for their trip over to France.

Both of them went through the war without any physical injuries, and they went back to Sweden around 1921, and at least Per Erick’s family found some gear and other artifacts from that time, when they looked through the attic in the house where they live now in Sweden.

The 54th Pioneer Infantry Regiment were a regiment within the Third Army, together with 1st, 51st and the 56th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, in which they served with the Army of Occupation, after the armistice, in Germany.

Photos Copyright: Sven Söderberg

I have received these photos from the person I met on one of my talks, Sven Söderberg, who became very interested in to try to get as much information as possible from the descendants from the two Swedish soldiers, and their time in the 54th Pioneer Infantry Regiment.

On my upcoming tour to the Argonne area in France, as a guide, we will pass through some of the areas where the soldiers Per Erick Person and Erick Larson served, in the Argonne and Verdun area in France. From the woods of Clermont to Consenvoye, north of Verdun, and their time in Coblenz, Germany, as part of their service in that Defensive sector.

The descendants will follow me on the tour, and it will be great to show them the area where their ancestors participated in the Great war. Sven Söderberg, who told the story about the soldiers, will also participate on the tour!

Last weekend I met Sven, and we exchanged knowledge about the 54th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, and he also brought a very interesting book about the unit. That has driven me into another of these endless rabbit holes and has made me determined to try to find books about other units, to learn as much as I can. The thirst of knowledge never ends when it comes to what the Swedish emigrants went through as soldiers in the American Expeditionary Forces.

I am now reading through the Rosters of the companies who belonged to the regiment, and so far I have discovered a few more Swedish born soldiers, who served in the Unit. I will find more, as I haven’t looked through all the names yet.

So far I have discovered and confirmed these Individuals as Swedish born soldiers, who also served in the 54th Pioneer Infantry Regiment: (Their American names)

Updated: Feb 15, 2025 – 38 individuals

I hope the story about Per Erick Person and Erick Larson will grow during the tour, and that the relatives to the soldiers will find the time worthwhile to spend some days in the terrain of their ancestors, and to see much more about the area in which the the Swedish born soldiers fought in, when they served in the American Expeditionary Forces, during the Great war.

The tour will be done between April 25th to 28th, 2025.

They will be remembered.

I hope you all have had a very good start on 2025, the time flies, and for me it has been a well deserved, if I may say so, winter leave.

I will now take a grip around my research and continue according to my project plan, and I hope you want to follow me along the way.

In the end of 2024 I decided to broaden my limitations to put in those soldiers who fought and fell in the Great War, but are buried outside France and Belgium. I have already added many of the Swedish born soldiers who fought for the American Expeditionary Forces, and I will now continue to add those who fought for the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, who fits into the description above.

In this case I will mention those who met any type of combat situation in the fields, fell in combat or died of disease, and were transported back and buried in England or Canada, or other countries.

A quick search for Swedish born soldiers who in the Canadian National Archives gives a result of a list with 566 names stated to be born in Sweden, of those Swedes who were connected to Canadian Expeditionary Forces, C.E.F. According to the author Elinor Barr, she states in her book – Swedes in Canada-Invisible Immigrants – that over 1680 Swedish immigrants signed up for duty in World War 1. I have only been able to find those 566 connected to C.E.F.

From those 566 Swedish born soldiers, I have been able to confirm at least 117 individuals who died. Elinor Barr says in her book that she have a figure of 122 Individuals. I think some of those can be behind small errors in documents, like individuals born in Stockholm, Saskatchewan or similar. I will look more into that.

Below I add three more individuals to my earlier 114, which gives me 117 so far.

Emil Lund (Anders Emil Lund)

Emil was born in Ockelbo parish, Gävleborgs county, May 26th, 1883. He belonged to Gävle Naval Corps before he left for North America in 1906. He was heading for Swan River in Manitoba, Canada.

He signed his Canadian Forces Attestation Papers on December 24th, 1915. He later left Canada and arrived in England in April, 1916, belonging to the Canadian Forestry Corps.

Emil seemed to have had a troublesome period during his service, with quite many “AWOL”, but he received a medal for his service that I haven’t seen before. He was awarded the MSM, British Meritorious Service Medal (MSM), in June 1919, in London.

For some reason Emil committed suicide in Canada, according to his casualty card, and died December 31st, 1920. He is now buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

May Emil rest in peace.

Erik A Eriksson (Erik Albert Eriksson)

Sometimes it is fascinating to read files from the archives, but also very tragic to read about some of the destinies of the soldiers. I can imagine the hard life of the soldier Erik Albert Eriksson. It did not went well for him during his service in the Canadian Forces.

Erik was born in Folkärna parish, Sweden, Sept 18, 1877, and raised by his mother, maid Margreta Juliana Ersdotter. His father is unknown. He left Sweden for Canada in November 1904, and travelled alone for some reason. His address was Calgary when he signed for the Canadian Forces in November 1916.

He left Canada with his unit, 211th Battalion who later became 8th battalion, Canadian railway Troops. He landed in France in June 1917, but it didn’t went well for Erik.

Reading the documents about his medical condition, he suffered from great mental issues which caused his fellow mates some trouble during a normal working day. The documents tells us a quite detailed story, see below:

He was discharged and went back home to Canada and tragically died on September 21, 1918. Erik is buried in New Westminster (Fraser) Cemetery in British Columbia, Canada. I find it sad that his mother still was in Sweden, and her son buried in Canada, I so wonder if someone from his family ever could visit him.

May Erik’s mind be in peace.

Cail Ivar Erickson (Karl Ivar Sanfrid Eriksson)

Ivar was one of quite few soldiers who continued to serve in the units from the C.E.F, who went to the Murmansk region in 1919.

Carl Ivar Erickson was born in Kärna parish, Linköping, Sweden, on August 14th, 1889, and raised by his parents, his mother Hilda Sofia Gustafsson and his father Erik Peter Karlsson. Before he left Sweden for North America in 1914, he was part of the Swedish Infantry for 6 years as a Sergeant, as he also served as in C.E.F.

Carl was initially drafted in the US Draft on June 5th, 1917, but in March 1918 he signed his attestation papers for the C.E.F, arrived in England in May 1918, and later on disembarked in Murmansk in September 28, 1918, as a part of the ‘Syren Party’, in the North Russian Expeditionary Forces, NREF.

One article in a Swedish-American Newspaper seems to explain the situation about Erickson, and about the situation when he died. I have translated the article from Swedish to English. A bit peculiar situation indeed. Imagine the situations they experienced.

Carl Ivar is buried in Murmansk, at Soroka Zavode Cemetery, mentioned on the Archangel Memorial, Murmansk, Russia.

My Carl rest in peace.