SSgt Camilla Mathilde Carlsen (née Petersen)
(1900 - )
Profile
Camilla Carlsen was one of the Danes volunteering in Canada, where she had lived since 1925. She served in the CWAC in Canada and overseas. Meanwhile her husband operated in the field in Denmark as a SOE agent.
Camilla Mathilde Carlsen (née Petersen) was born in Copenhagen on 17 January 1900, to carpenter Jens Peter Petersen and Ingrid Hansen.[1] Her mother was born in Sweden, and married to her father in 1913. [2] Carlsen, her parents and four siblings lived in different parts of Copenhagen during her childhood. Later, as a young woman, she worked as a seamstress.[3]
Emigrating to Canada
In July 1925, Carlsen arrived to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on her way to Montreal, Quebec. Her final destination was the local Y.M.C.A. and she intended to remain in Canada. [4] She was married to Jens Peter Carlsen on 2 September 1927 in the Calvary Church in Montreal. [5] He had emigrated to Canada in June 1924. [6] It is not clear, if she knew him from Denmark or met him in Canada. They lived in Montreal for the first years of the marriage. She worked as a saleslady and he as a steward for Canadian Pacific Railroad. [7] In 1932, he worked at the hotel Chateau Huntingdon in Quebec. [8] In the late 1930s, they moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where her husband worked as an inspector at the Empress Hotel in the town.[9]
The Canadian Women's Army Corps
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, in October 1941, Carlsen volunteered for the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in Victoria. Carlsen was among the first Quartermaster Sergeants visiting Ottawa to receive instructions in issuing and fitting the new CWAC uniform.[10]
The CWAC was founded on 13 August 1941. As it was the case of other women’s military units the aim was to have women carry out a range of functions in order to free up men for combat duty. CWAC was fully integrated in the Canadian Army in March 1942.[11]
In April 1943, she was among the third CWAC draft to serve overseas. [12] It is not clear where she served.>
Following the end of hostilities in Europe, in July 1945, she was part of the newly formed 51 Company (Coy), CWAC, in Apeldoorn, Holland. She had by then been promoted to Senior Sergeant and was part of No. 3 Platoon of the company led by Lt Alexandra Fillmore.
In mid-July 1945, the Canadian Army’s regulations for compassionate leave to Denmark was published in the unit’s daily orders. [13] Carlsen applied and spent the last half of August 1945 in Denmark visiting her parents, family and friends. [14] She retuned to Apeldoorn on 28 August 1945.
In August 1945 she was appointed company quartermaster sergeant (CQMS) at the 51 Coy and accordingly promoted to Acting Warrant Officer 2nd Class. It is not clear, when the left the unit, which was disbanded in December 1945.[15]
Husband became an SOE agent
Meanwhile, her husband volunteered for military service as well. In April 1941, representatives of the Danish Council in London visited USA and Canada to try to engage the Danish communities in the war. In Canada the Danish born veterinary doctor O. S. Nordland agreed to organize a campaign to recruit Danish-Canadians to a Danish contingent of the East Kent Regiment, the Buffs.[16]
Peter Carlsen was among the first group of 11 volunteers recruited in Canada. The group also included Ole Christian Geisler and Hans Henrik Pay Larsen, who had served briefly in the Norwegian Air Force. In late November 1941, he arrived in England on-board HMT Orcades. During the first days he was interrogated at the Royal Patriotic School. The interrogator seem to have been Flt Lt Olaf Francis Poulsen, another Danish volunteer. Following initial training in the Buffs in Canterbury, he was selected for and trained as an SOE agent.[17]
He was dropped by parachute at Hvidsten on 10 May 1943 and served operationally in the field until 27 May 1944. He played an important role in the organisation of the resistance movement in Odense and on the island of Funen. He was evacuated to Sweden and from there back to England.[18]
After the War
Camilla and Peter Carlsen divorced at some point after the war. She remarried George Edward Merriam in New Brunswick in 1951. He died in 1960. She settled in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. Her exact date of death is unknown at this point, but around 1980.[19]
Endnotes
[1] DNA: 1901, 1906, and 1911 Census of Denmark.
[2] DNA: Parish register, Getsemane sogn.
[3] DNA: 1921 Census of Denmark.
[4] Ancestry: Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935.
[5] Ancestry: Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968.
[6] Ancestry: Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924.
[7] Ancestry: 1931 Census of Canada.
[8] Ancestry: Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935.
[9] DNA: Håndskriftsamlingen: IV. Danmark-Norges almindelige historie (-) 142: IV T 38A J. Hæstrup, beretninger: A - H.
[10] Quartermaster Sergeants, The Province, 29 Oct 1941, p. 11.
[11] Wood, J. (2023). Canadian Women's Army Corps, The Canadian Encyclopedia, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-womens-army-corps (accessed on 25 February 2024).
[12] Vancouver Girls Arrive in England, The Province, 9 Apr 1943, p. 14.
[13] LAC: RG24-C-3, 16552, 2691.
[14] CWAC vists Denmark, The Carbon Chronicle, 29 November 1945.
[15] LAC: RG24-C-3, 16552, 2691.
[16] Sørensen, J. (2006). Med Storbritannien for Danmarks frihed - via Canada: Hvervningen af danskere til allieret krigstjeneste i Canada 1941. 1066, 36(2), 3-14.
[17] DNA: Håndskriftsamlingen: IV. Danmark-Norges almindelige historie (-) 142: IV T 38A J. Hæstrup, beretninger: A - H.
[18] HS 9/269/5, Jens Peter CARLSEN - born 05.07.1902.
[19] University of Calgary: Fonds F0095 - Camilla Carlsen Fonds, https://searcharchives.ucalgary.ca/camilla-carlsen-fonds.