Swedes in the 361st Regiment, 91st Division, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive – Remembered through the diary of Ernest J A Erickson.

Reading the text in the war diary of Ernest Julius Alfred Ersson Erickson brings me to tears. The reason for this is the great connection I have established to one of the relatives to Ernest.

Background

For many years ago, in the beginning of my research, I found beautiful files and photographs of American soldiers who turned out to be Swedish born individuals, who emigrated from Sweden to North America, and particpated in the Great War. It turned out it were three of them, and I immidiately became very attached to them.

The files and photographs came from Mark Erickson, who is the Grandson to one of the soldiers, Frank (Frans) Gustav Severin Ersson Erickson. Frank had four brothers, Ernest Julius Alfred, Andy (Anders) Sebran Filimon, Erik Olof Helmer, and the youngest one, Al (Alphons) Frederick Alcassar. He also had two sisters, Vera (Elvira) Edla Alfrida Gallager and Abby (Ebba) Kristina Agnis Lincoln. Al was the only one born in the US.

Three of the brothers participated in the Great War, however, only two survived.

Mark Erickson and I have communicated a lot during the years, and I have received the full family history, and it is almost impossible to decide where to start. Although, I have decided to start by jumping right into the action that Ernest Julius Alfred saw on the battlefield. With the full permission by Mark, I will now use some of his material in this article, and for that I am very grateful.

This is the story about the one of three brothers who fell in the Meuse Argonne Offensive, that dark day of October 10, 1918. The story of Ernest Julius Alfred Erickson.

The Family

The family left Torpshammar, Sundsvall, Sweden for North America in March, 1903, and settled down in Regan, Burleigh County, North Dakota.

Ernest Julius Alfred and two of his brothers got drafted for the US Army in 1917, and they all went over to France to serve within the American Expeditionary Force, AEF.

Ernest was born in Torpshammar parish, Västernorrland county, in the landscape of Medelpad, Sweden, on January 9th, 1889.

Along with his two younger brothers, Frank and Sebran, the three brothers were serving on the Western Front in France. Sebran left for England in late 1917, Ernest Julius left on July 6, 1918, and was at the time of the letter below, in combat. Frank followed a month later on August 8, 1918, and headed to England and was in combat in France in mid-August, serving with the 308th Infantry Company H of the 77th Division.

Ernest served in the 91st Division, 361st Infantry Regiment, Frank served in the 77th Division, 208th Infantry, and survived they days between October 2nd to 8th, 1918, through the actions within the today called the “Lost Battalion” Franks adventure will be described in another article. Andy served in the 101st Aero Squadron, stationed in Bourges, France.

⇒  Read the entire article on the Swedes in the Great War website here:

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