SSgt Jens Matthiasen
(1920 - 1950)
Profile
S/Sgt Matthiasen enlisted in the USAAF in early 1943. He is the first Dane it has been possible to place in the Boing B-29 Superfortresses flying missions over Japan during the Second World War.
Jens Matthiasen was born on 23 March 1923 in Lystlund in the parish of Ulfborg, to farmer Hans Kristian Matthiasen and Else Katrine Matthiasen (née Jensen).[1]
Exiled by the war
Matthiasen went to sea in the late 1930s. At first in the inland Danish waters of Limfjorden, and later on the high seas. On 23 May 1938, he was engaged as an ordinary seaman onboard the SS Betty Mærsk. Matthiasen made at least two transatlantic crossings onboard the ship in 1938-1939. [2] He signed off in Mobile, Alabama, in late 1939 and spent Christmas and the New Year here.[3]
Betty Mærsk returned to Denmark, arriving to the port of Randers from Philadelphia on 8 April 1940. It was part of the home merchant fleet and involved in the transportation of iron ore from Sweden to Germany during the war. [4] One can only speculate that Matthiasen’s life would have turned out very differently, had he not signed off at this point.
He was then engaged as an ordinary seaman onboard the SS Gunny in Mobile, Alabama on 1 January 1940. [5] Gunny was a Norwegian freiter. It was en route between Demerara in the Guianas and St Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 9 April 1940 as the Germans invaded Norway and Denmark. It continued sailing on the route until heading for New York in 8 May. [6] On 25 May 1940, Gunny arrived in Philadelphia, where Matthiasen was discharged.[7]
He got a job and friends in Philadelphia and remained there for the next couple of years. In July 1941, at the time of his draft, Matthiasen lived in Philadelphia working for S. A. Lindstrom & Son, a firm involved in the erection of structural steel.[8]
Flying B-29s out of Guam
On 13 March 1943, Matthiasen enlisted as private (33592360) in the U.S. Army in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was not yet a citizen of the United States at the time of enlistment. [9] He was naturalised as a United States citizen on 27 August 1943.[10]
He was sent to New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, and later to Miami Beach. From there he went to Amarillo, Texas, for five months of training as a flight mechanic, and then followed four months in training as flight engineer. Postings in Nebraska, Texas, Colorado Springs and Kansas followed, before he was shipped out from Seattle to Guam in the Mariana Islands. [11] He is known to have been serving overseas from 18 December 1944.[12] Only few details are available about his service.
Matthiasen served in the 29th Bomb Group (Very Heavy), [13] which was part of the 314th Bomb Wing, XXI Bomber Command, 20th Air Force. The group was activated on 1 April 1944 and, based at North Field Guam from February 1945, it operated the B-29 Superfortress on missions against mainland Japan—including Tokyo. The group consisted of the 6th, the 43rd, and the 52nd Bomb Squadrons. [14] He served as a Corporal and later Staff Sergeant.
He returned to mainland United States on 2 February 1946 a few days prior to discharge.[13]
In 1950, as he applied for veteran compensation, he was assigned to the 509th Maintenance Squadron, 509th Maintenance & Supply Group, at the Walker Air Force Base, Roswell, New Mexico.[14]
After the war
Matthiasen was unable to correspond directly with his parents in Denmark during the war. He had been able to notice them of his well-being twice—in 1940 and 1943—but that was it until he was able to write again from May 1945.
On 17 June 1945, finally, he left the United States to visit his parents in Denmark. [15] He arrived on 5 July 1946 and remained in Denmark for three months. He retuned to New York from Copenhagen on 11 October 1946 onboard MS Falstria.[16]
Matthiasen died in an accident at Fort Stanton on 2 October 1950. [17] He was buried with military honours. His parents, who were not able to attend, arranged a small memorial service at their home in Vemb at the same time.[18]
Endnotes
[1] DNA: Parish register, Ulfborg sogn.
[2] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[3] Vemb Borger- og Håndværkerforening (1994). Vemb-bo i amerikansk tjeneste under krigen, Vemb by og dens borgere II.
[4] Hansen, G. S. (2021). Danske skibe i malmfarten : hjemmeflåden og samarbejdspolitikken, p. 132-34.
[5] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[6] D/S Gunny, Warsailors, http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/gunny.html (accessed on 23 March 2024).
[7] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[8] Ancestry: U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.
[9] Ancestry U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.
[10] Ancestry: Florida, Naturalization Records, 1847-1995.
[11] Vemb Borger- og Håndværkerforening (1994). Vemb-bo i amerikansk tjeneste under krigen, Vemb by og dens borgere II.
[12] Ancestry: Pennsylvania, U.S., Veteran Compensation Application Files, WWII, 1950-1966.
[13] Yens Matthiasen, 20th Air Force, https://www.20af.org/matthiasen-yens-m2360-29bg.cfm.
[14] Maurer, M. (1983). Air Force combat units of World War II, p. 81-82.
[15] Ancestry: Pennsylvania, U.S., Veteran Compensation Application Files, WWII, 1950-1966.
[16] Ancestry: Pennsylvania, U.S., Veteran Compensation Application Files, WWII, 1950-1966.
[17] Vemb Borger- og Håndværkerforening (1994). Vemb-bo i amerikansk tjeneste under krigen, Vemb by og dens borgere II.
[18] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.
[19] Ancestry: Pennsylvania, U.S., Veteran Compensation Application Files, WWII, 1950-1966.
[20] Vemb Borger- og Håndværkerforening (1994). Vemb-bo i amerikansk tjeneste under krigen, Vemb by og dens borgere II.