Military history of my family... (1 Viewer)

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

Maestro

Master Sergeant
Greetings ladies and gentlemen.

As some of you may have figured out by my recent posts in the "What has annoyed you today" thread, I've been searching through my wartime family history... Just to know who did what. I've decided to share those info with you all... just for the fun of it !

I started off with two of my most direct ancestors... My great-grand-father and his son (my great-uncle).

I had little hope concerning my great-grand-father, Andrew Larsen, as he was relatively old (for a new-soldier) at the outbreak of World War I. (He must have been somewhere around 40.) But as a Danish immigrant, and knowing the geo-political situation between Denmark and Prussia prior to WWI, I thought it would have been logical for him to enlist in the Canadian Corps... Either for decoding German transmissions/interrogating prisonniers or directly spying on them. (He was a pretty smart guy who could speak 7 languages.) Although his small stature could have got him rejected.

I turned up with nothing on him... They did find a volunteer named Andrew Larsen, but he was enlisted in Calgary (when he never went to Alberta) and his father's name didn't match the one I had. Although they stated in the letter that, back in the day, volunteers could have lied on their name or age in order to go to war.

So my searches on him kind of stopped there.

I had more info on his son, though (thanks to my father). I knew his name was Roland Larsen and that he was born in 1913. My father (although he was only 5 back in the day) clearly remember seeing him dressed in a khaki uniform with a "Canada" shoulder badge. Anything else about him is kind of foggy... He asked his wife to destroy every records he had of his past in the military a few years before passing away. And he never told anyone about what he did in the army neighter. Although he must have been to the front as he was no longer the same when he returned. (According to my father.)

After a few letters/phone calls/e-mails, I must say that I am still in contact with Library and Archives Canada to try to track him back... As he doesn't seems to have a record there. I'm starting to wonder if he was not working as a "liaison officer", a commando (Devil's Brigade ?) or even a spy for the British Army.

I'll keep you updated on that...

The other side of my family got luckier... My grand-father (on my mother's side) was called for the draft five or six times, but everytime his boss managed to convince Canadian recruiting officers that his services were needed here (he was a pharmacist). His brother played it even smarter and "pulled an Hess" on them... He managed to make the recruiting officers believe that he was completely insane.

The last war veteran in my family (although he is not directly linked to me by blood lines) is my uncle... who served (along with both of his brothers) in the French paratroopers during the War of Algeria.

Although that war was a military victory for France, the sh*t really hit the fan on the politics side... Which made it a failure for France. It must be why he never really spoke to me about his days in the military... Except for a few bits here and there. And I don't want to contact the French war office to get his war file without his authorization... You know how paratroopers are, right?

Several other family members were part of the Canadian Forces, however none of them ever went at war... As far as I know.
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back