Pvt. Kjeld Mathias Svarrer
(1920 - 1994)
Profile
Pvt Kjeld M. Svarrer was born in Copenhagen, but emigrated to the USA at an early age. He enlisted in the USAAF in 1943 and served until discharge in 1946.
Kjeld Mathias Svarrer was born on 29 November 1920 in Copenhagen, to Mark Elise Svarrer.[1] His mother married Vilhelm Peter August Larsen on 30 October 1921.[2] The young couple lived at the home of her parents, but moved apart in 1923.[3]
The Svarrer family emigrated to the United States in 1923, arriving in New York in company with his grandmother and uncle onboard the SS United States on 27 August 1923.[4] In New York, they joined Svarrer’s grandfather who had arrived as a ship’s officer in the Danish merchant navy. Svarrer’s mother followed a couple of months later, on 24 November 1923.[5] His mother remarried in in New Jersey in 1933, [6] and his grandfather died in 1934.[7] Svarrer seems to have been raised at his grandmother.[8]
Svarrer married Caroline Hansen, who was of Norwegian descent on 22 August 1942.[9] He worked for a welding company in New York at the time.[10]
Svarrer enlisted as a private (32797848) in the U.S. Army in New York City on 9 February 1943.[11] A month later, he was naturalised as a citizen of the United States in Tampa, Florida. He was at this point serving at the Army Air Force Basic Training Centre (BCT) No. 6 in St Petersburg, Florida.[12]
This training center was established in June 1942 and the first recruits arrived in August. It was in operation until July 1943.[13]
The are now further information on his service at this point. He was discharged on 3 January 1946.[14]
Endnotes
[1] DNA: Parish register, Sion sogn.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Copenhagen municipal archive: Politiets registerblade. Station 5. Filmrulle 0029. Registerblad 2513 (unikt id. 2092929) and Politiets registerblade. Station 5. Filmrulle 0029. Registerblad 2513 (unikt id. 2092929). The documents show that they moved into different locations on 24 August 1923, which corresponds with the departure of Svarrer to the United States.
[4] Ancestry: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957.
[5] Ancestry: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957.
[6] Ancestry: New Jersey, Marriage Index, 1901-2016.
[7] Ancestry: New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948.
[8] Ancestry: 1940 United States Federal Census.
[9] Ancestry: New York, New York, Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018.
[10] Ancestry: U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.
[11] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.
[12] Ancestry: Florida, Naturalization Records, 1847-1995.
[13] St. Petersburg Training Center, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg_Training_Center (accessed on 21 March 1945).
[14] Ancestry U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010.