Axel Nielsen

Axel Nielsen served briefly in the Royal Norwegian Air Force in Canada and on Iceland. He transferred to the merchant navy and made several Atlantic crossings in 1941-1942.

Axel Nielsen was born on 18 February 1906 in Assens. He was the illegitimate son of Berthe Cathrine Pedersen and farm labourer Laurits Nielsen. His mother married pharmacist Edmund Osvald Arthur Stuhr in 1915.^[1]

Nielsen was trained as a printer and later as a machinist in Denmark in the early 1920s. He worked for five years at a local newspaper in the town of Frederikshavn. He served in the Royal Danish Navy in 1925-1926 as a stoker and during that time he participated in an expedition to Iceland.^[2]

Nielsen emigrated to Canada in 1927, arriving in Montreal, Quebec, onboard SS Andania on 13 August 1927. ^[3] He worked as a farm labourer for 9 months and, later, as a woodman for 6 months. From 1928 to 1941, he worked as a printer.^[4]

Royal Norwegian Air Force

Nielsen was accepted for service as a private (flysoldat) in the Royal Norwegian Air Force in Toronto on 17 June 1941 (N.1533). Following initial training in July, he was part of a company of 26 men send overseas to Iceland leaving Toronto on 22 July 1941. ^[5] Nielsen arrived on Iceland on 7 August 1941, ^[6] where the first Norwegian squadron—330 (Norwegian) Squadron—was activated in April 1941.

Nielsen served in the air force for a short period of time. He was transferred to the Divisional Sea Transport. ^[7] The Divisional Sea Transport Officer was responsible for the efficient working of the transport vessels under his charge. ^[8] It is not clear from the information available at this point which function Nielsen performed, however.

Merchant Seaman

On 4 September 1941, the Norwegian ship MS Norse Lady arrived in Reykjavik which major engine defects. Later in the month, as the vessel left again it ran aground off Reykjavik. It returned t the harbour and, finally, on 20 December 1941 left for the United Kingdom. Nielsen was signed on the ship on 16 October 1941 and it seems plausible that he took part in the repairs given his training as a machinist. Following stops at Barry Roads and Sharpness, Norse Lady reached Cardiff on 19 January 1942. The vessel remained in Cardiff for more than two months. At the end of March 1942, Norse Lady left Cardiff to join Convoy ON 82 sailing from Milford Haven on 1 April 1942 and arriving in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, two weeks later.

Two months later, Norse Lady crossed the Atlantic again in Convoy SC 86 from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Liverpool. ^[9] Nielsen signed off on 14 July 1942 in Cardiff, where the ship remained for nearly two months. He signed on again on 10 August 1942 and was part of the crew when the vessel crossed the Atlantic in Convoy ON 126. The day after Norse Lady’s arrival in New York on 19 September 1942, Nielsen signed off.^[10]

From this point onwards, there is no information about Nielsen’s whereabouts. It is evident from correspondence between the the Royal Norwegian Air Force HQ in London and the Air Force Training Camp in Canada in early 1943, that neither have knowledge of his whereabouts. He has never been in included in lists of the personnel at 330 (Norwegian) Squadron on Iceland. It is suggested that he has gone into other service.^[11]

Endnotes

[1] DNA: Parish register, Assens sogn.

[2] DAHS: Service record.

[3] Ancestry: Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935.

[4] DAHS: Service record.

[5] NRA: Forsvaret, Flyvåpnenes treningsleir 1940-1945, V/L0038: Ekspedisjonskontoret. 8. Personellkontoret, 1940-1945.

[6] Guhnfeldt, C. (2024). Island Skvadronen. 330 Skvadrons Krigsinsatts 1941-1943, p. 127.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Divisional Sea Transport Officer Iceland (DSTO), https://test.krigsseilerregisteret.no/en/artikkel/810575 (accessed on 2 November 2024).

[9] TNA: BT 389/41/279; M/S Norse Lady, http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/norselady.html (accessed on 2 November 2024).

[10] Axel Nielsen, https://www.krigsseilerregisteret.no/en/sjofolk/921871 (accessed on 2 November 2024).

[11] NNA: Forsvaret, Flyvåpnenes treningsleir 1940-1945, V/L0038: Ekspedisjonskontoret. 8. Personellkontoret, 1940-1945.