Cpl Edwin Adolf Jacobsen
(1920 - 1997)
Profile
When Cpl Edwin A. Jacobsen enlisted in the Army Air Corps in mid-194, he had been in war service at sea for several years as part of Danish crews on motor tankers of the Panama Transport Company.
Edwin Adolf Jacobsen was born in Vordingborg on 29 September 1920, to Helga Elisabeth Jacobsen. He was baptized Edvind Adolf Jacobsen. [1] His mother married Bernhard Emil Pedersen on 24 November 1924 in a civil marriage in Copenhagen.
Jacobsen was raised in the Christianshavn area of Copenhagen. In November 1940, at the time of the census, Jacobsen was recorded as ‘temporarily absent’ at sea. He had joined the merchant marine.[2]
War Sailor
The following years Jacobsen was engaged onboard several Standard Oil motor tankers, which had originally been registered in Danzig and operated by the Baltisch-Amerikanische Petroleum-Import. In May 1935, following the rise of the Third Reich, Standard Oil transferred these vessels to the Panama register and the Panama Transport Company. For the time being, the vessels were manned by their German crews, but following the declaration of war, on 3 September 1939, the company decided to remove German crew from all neutral vessels.[3]
The first of these was the MS Harry G. Seidel, which was taken over by a Danish crew on 7 January 1940.[4] Jacobsen was engaged onboard this ship in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, on 7 February 1941 and signed off after arriving to New York from Cartagena, Colombia, on 18 October 1941.[5]
Little more than two weeks later, on 5 November 1941, he was engaged as an ordinary seaman onboard the company’s tanker MS Calliope. Calliope had been in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a German crew at the outbreak of war in September 1939. It was taken over by a crew of Norwegians (officers) and Danes. [6] Jacobsen sailed at least two trips onboard; one to Caripito, Venezuela, and another to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He signed of after arriving to New York on 25 May 1942. He returned to the crew of the ship at a later date.
Jacobsen was engaged as a messman onboard a third motor tanker of the Panama Transport Company on 7 August 1942. [7] MS Clio had been transferred from routes in the Pacific to the Atlantic early in the war. On 15 August 1941, the American crew was replaced by Danes and, from March 1942 the vessel completed a series of voyages along the North American east coast. [8] Jacobsen was part of the crew on at least two of these runs, before signing off in New York as Clio returned from the Standard Oil refinery in Caripito, Venezuela, on 1 October 1942.[9]
Later that year, on 16 December 1942, Jacobsen was engaged onboard a fourth of the company’s motor tankers, the SS Standard, in New York. The Standard built in 1914 was a veteran tanker and had been taken over by a Danish crew on 18 November 1939. As Jacobsen joined the Standard it sailed return trips between New York and Glasgow, Scotland, delivering oil. [10] It seems that Jacobsen was part of the crew on two or three of these before his charge after arrival to New York on 7 April 1943.
He rejoined the MS Calliope for a final stint at sea from 1 May 1943 to discharge after the ship’s arrival in New York from Aruba on 16 June 1943.[11]
Army Air Corps
Jacobsen enlisted as a private (32981677) in the U.S. Army in New York City on 9 July 1943. His profession was registered as ‘semiskilled sailor and deckhands.’ He was not yet a citizen of the United States.[12]
Unfortunately, no details on his service are available at this point. All that is known is, that he served in the Army Air Corps and that he was discharged holding the rank of corporal on 19 March 1946.[13]
After the war
Jacobsen died in San Antonio, Texas, on 3 February 1997.[14]
Endnotes
[1] DNA: Parish register, Vordingborg sogn.
[2] DNA: 1920, 1930, and 1940 Censuses of Denmark.
[3] Mikkelsen, B. (2008). Danske rederier, pp. 25-30.
[4] Standard Oil Company (1946). Ships of the Esso fleet in World War II, pp. 207-209.
[5] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[6] Standard Oil Company (1946), op.cit., pp. 32-34.
[7] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[8] Standard Oil Company (1946), op.cit., pp. 111-112.
[9] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[10] Standard Oil Company (1946), op.cit., pp. 81-82.
[11] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[12] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.
[13] Ancestry: U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010.
[14] Ancestry: U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014.