In the armed forces and the merchant marine
Around 30,000 Danish-Americans served in the U.S. armed forces and around 2,000 Danish seamen served on American merchant marine ships during WWII. Hear the stories of Thorkil Jensen, a Danish-born B-17 navigator, and Elsie Howard, a Danish-born US Army nurse, recorded as part the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.
Danish-Americans in the military
An estimated 30,000 Danish-Americans were mobilized for the military forces. However, it is not possible to give an accurate number for this as Danish-Americans were not listed separately from Americans with other ethnic heritage. Most Danish-Americans who had been born in Denmark were already American citizens when the war began and/or too old to serve in the military. Danish-Americans did not join a specific regiment but fought side by side with other Americans.
The searchable database of the Museum of Danish Resistance lists 83 named Danes who fought in the American military services. Danish seamen
As a seafaring nation, many Danish ships and sailors were located away from Denmark when the Germans invaded Denmark in April 1940. Of these, 240 Danish merchant marine ships and around 6,000 Danish sailors joined the allied war effort. About 1,000 Danish seamen in allied service lost their lives.
Around 2,000 Danish sailors served onboard American ships during WWII. One Danish training ship, the full-rigged ship “Danmark” became a training vessel for the United States Coast Guard Academy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The searchable database of the Museum of Danish Resistance lists 250 named Danes who served in the American merchant marine during WWII. Two Danish-Americans who served in the U.S. military
The Veterans History Project, part of the Library of Congress, is an oral history project containing a vast amount of interviews with American war veterans, including some who were born in Denmark.
Thorkil Jensen was born in Denmark and immigrated to America with his family when he was four years old. He served as a First Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces from 1941-1945 as a navigator on a B-17 at various locations in the United States and in England, France and Germany. Thorkil Jensen initially wanted to enlist in order to get a choice of which service to join. He really wanted to go into the Navy Air Corps but the Navy representative wouldn't accept him as he didn't have any paperwork that showed that he was a U.S. citizen. Thorkil Jensen then had a judge sign a piece of paper stating that Thorkil was an American but the Navy would still not accept him. He then wrote a long letter to the Army Air Corps about what a wonderful county USA is and how he wanted to serve it, and he was accepted. It turned out many years later that Thorkil Jensen’s citizenship paperwork was still not in order and he formally became a U.S. citizen in 1955 along with his parents. Watch the 80-minute interview with Thorkil Jensen. (Thorkil Jensen Collection, (AFC/2001/001/09466), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.) Elsie Margaret Hansen Howard was born in 1918 in Stubbekøbing in Denmark and immigrated with her family to the United States in 1929 following her father’s financial difficulties due to the Depression. Elsie Howard enlisted in the Army as a nurse and served on the Arcadia hospital ship in Africa, France, and in other locations during WWII. Watch the 120-minute interview with Elsie Margaret Hansen Howard. (Elsie Margaret Hansen Howard Collection, (AFC/2001/001/33436), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.) |
Army Chaplain uniform coat belonging to Adolf S. Petersen who was born in 1907 in North Dakota, the son of Danish immigrant parents. In 1941, Adolf joined the Army and reported for active service at Ellington Field in Texas and arrived there with his wife Marie Larsen on December 5, two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Petersen served onboard ships and in India. Image provided by the Museum of Danish America, Elk Horn, Iowa.
This quilt was made to honor the maker's son Vernon Beck. It names all those from Elk Horn-Kimballton, Iowa, who served in World War II. The quilt contains 99 names - nine names has gold stars stitched next to them, denoting that they were killed in action. Image provided by the Museum of Danish America, Elk Horn, Iowa.
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Sources:
Axel Sporon-Fiedler, Den danske bevægelse i de forenede stater i besættelsesårene: en kort redegørelse af Axel Sporon-Fiedler [The Danish movement in the United States during the years of the occupation: A brief account of Axel Sponron-Fiedler] ([Publisher unknown], 1947).
Caspar H. W. Hasselriis, Danmark i USA under Besættelsen [Denmark in the USA during the Occupation] (Copenhagen, DK: Forlaget Sixtus, 1978).
Paul Palmér, “Danske Frivillige i De Allieredes Styrker,” [Danish volunteers in the allied forces] In Danmark under Besættelsen III [Denmark during the occupation III], ed. Vilhelm La Cour (Copenhagen, DK: Westermanns Forlag, 1946), 711-734.
Bjørn Petersen, ”Krigssejlere og danskere i allieret tjeneste” [War sailors and Danes in allied service], Danmarks Befrielse 5. maj 1945: Følelser af fælleskab [Denmark’s liberation May 5th, 1945: Feelings of Community], accessed May 9, 2017, http://www.befrielsen1945.dk/temaer/modstandskamp/allierettjeneste/.
Jakob Sørensen, For Danmarks ære: Danskere i allieret krigstjeneste 1939-1945 [For Denmark’s Honor: Danes in the Allied War Service 1939-1945] (Copenhagen, DK: Informations Forlag, 2011).
Axel Sporon-Fiedler, Den danske bevægelse i de forenede stater i besættelsesårene: en kort redegørelse af Axel Sporon-Fiedler [The Danish movement in the United States during the years of the occupation: A brief account of Axel Sponron-Fiedler] ([Publisher unknown], 1947).
Caspar H. W. Hasselriis, Danmark i USA under Besættelsen [Denmark in the USA during the Occupation] (Copenhagen, DK: Forlaget Sixtus, 1978).
Paul Palmér, “Danske Frivillige i De Allieredes Styrker,” [Danish volunteers in the allied forces] In Danmark under Besættelsen III [Denmark during the occupation III], ed. Vilhelm La Cour (Copenhagen, DK: Westermanns Forlag, 1946), 711-734.
Bjørn Petersen, ”Krigssejlere og danskere i allieret tjeneste” [War sailors and Danes in allied service], Danmarks Befrielse 5. maj 1945: Følelser af fælleskab [Denmark’s liberation May 5th, 1945: Feelings of Community], accessed May 9, 2017, http://www.befrielsen1945.dk/temaer/modstandskamp/allierettjeneste/.
Jakob Sørensen, For Danmarks ære: Danskere i allieret krigstjeneste 1939-1945 [For Denmark’s Honor: Danes in the Allied War Service 1939-1945] (Copenhagen, DK: Informations Forlag, 2011).