LAC Mylius Erik Ulstrup Christiansen

LAC Mylius E. U. Christensen served as a guard and later as a cook in the Royal Australian Air Force. He was born in Copenhagen, but arrived in Australia as a seaman in 1925. The information available seems to indicate that he was naturalised in Australia after the war and, thus, Danish subject at enlistment.

Mylius Erik Ulstrup Christiansen was born on 17 December 1907 in Copenhagen, the son of Christian Julius Christiansen and Marie Vilhelmine Christiansen (née Olsen).^[1]

Christiansen was the second son of his father’s second marriage. The first wife, Petrine Marie (née Knudsen), had died of cancer in May 1905 and left Christiansen’s father alone with five children aged 2-13.^[2] He married Christiansen’s mother in September 1905.^[3] Tragically she died suddenly in 1910, while pregnant with a third child. Christiansen was only two years old.^[4] The father remarried in 1911, and the family lived on different addresses primarily in the area of Nørrebro in Copenhagen during his childhood.^[5] The father divorced in 1916 then remarried again in 1924.

At Sea

At some point in the early 1920s, Christiansen signed on as a seaman onboard the SS Bolivia. He arrived in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, onboard the Bolivia on 7 September 1925.^[6] The is no further information at this point.

He settled in Dungog, New South Wales, and in 1932, he married Alica Beryl Brooker.^[7]

Guard and cook in the RAAF

Christiansen enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 21 May 1943 at 2 Recruit Centre in Sydney. He was appointed Aircraftsman Class I (134632) on enlistment. He was posted to 2 Recruitment Deport in Tocumwal and later to No. 1 Recruitment Depot at Shepparton. Here he attended No. 25 Guards’ Course from 6 July to 2 August 1943^[8]

On 5 August 1943 he was posted to No. 13 Squadron at Canberra and on 1 March 1944 he is promoted to Leading Aircraftman. He follows this squadron to Cooktown on 28 May 1944 and to Gove, Northern Territory, on 28 August 1944.^[9] The squadron’s primary role during this period was to carry out anti-submarine and shipping patrols along the Australian east coast.^[10]

Christiansen was re-mustered as cook on 12 December 1944 and, at the same time, he was downgraded to Aircraftsman Class I.^[11]

On 6 February 1945 he was promoted to Leading Aircraftman and the next day he was posted to No. 20 Squadron. This squadron was equipped with Catalinas and their primary task at this point of the war was minelaying from Darwin.^[12] He remained at this squadron until 20 November 1945 just before the squadron relocated to RAAF Rathmines. At this point in time he was posted to No. 2 Personal Depot from were he is discharged on 11 February 1946.^[13]

Endnotes

[1] DNA: Paris register, Sankt Stefans sogn.

[2] DNA: Sundhedsstyrelsen, Dødsattester, København (1840 - 1980), 1905 1 - 1905 2, 50.

[3] DNA: Parish register, Simeons sogn.

[4] DNA: Sundhedsstyrelsen, Dødsattester, København (1840 - 1980), 1910 5 - 1910 6, 546.

[5] DNA: Copenhagen Municipal Archive, Police index card for Christian Julius Christiansen.

[6] NAA: SP11/2, DANISH/CHRISTIANSEN M E U.

[7] Ancestry: Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950.

[8] NAA: A9301, 134632.

[9] Ibid.

[10] No. 13 Squadron RAAF, Wikepedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._13_Squadron_RAAF (accessed on 3 September 2023).

[11] NAA: A9301, 134632.

[12] No. 20 Squadron RAAF, Wikepedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._20_Squadron_RAAF (accessed on 3 September 2023).

[13] NAA: A9301, 134632.