Pfc. Vera Afebia Cofer (née Arentoft)

Pfc. Vera Afebia Cofer (née Arentoft) enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1944. She was one of twenty-nine Danish born WACs during the Second World War.

Vera Afebia Arentoft was born on 13 May 1921 in Copenhagen, Denmark, to Hans Peter Arentoft and Ingeborg Anna Marie Arentoft (née Jensen).^[1]

The family emigrated to the United States in 1924. Hans Peter Arentoft was the first to arrive in 1922, and Vera, her mother and brother Helge arrived in New York from Copenhagen onboard the SS Hellig Olav on 30 October 1924. The family settled in Union City, New York.^[2] In 1930, the family lived in Weehawken, New Jersey, where the father had become manager in an athletic club. Before emigrating he had been a bathhouse attendant for many years.^[3] The family had been naturalised as citizens of the United States at this point.^[4]

Arentoft enlisted as Private First Class (A-220702) in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, on 28 August 1943. She was discharged on 4 April 1945.^[5] The nature of her service is not known.

She married Paul Everett Cofer at Montgomery, Alabama, on 3 November 1944. He served as sergeant in the US Army Air Force during the war.^[6]

After the war they moved to Idaho, where she died on 9 June 1984.^[7]

Endnotes

[1] DNA: Parish register, Absalon sogn.

[2] Ancestry: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957.

[3] DNA: 1921 Census of Denmark.

[4] Ancestry: 1930 United States Federal Census.

[5] Ancestry: U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010.

[6] Ancestry: U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current.

[7] Obituary for Vera Cofer, South Idaho Press, 11 Jun 1984, p. 2.