Paul Emanuel Eriksen
(1919 - 1972)
Profile
Cpl Paul E. Eriksen was one of the Danish nationals serving in the USAAF during the Second World War. He seems to have served in a truck company, possibly as a driver or a mechanic.
Paul Emanuel Eriksen was born on 20 February 1919 in Copenhagen, to brewery worker Robert Marinus Eriksen and Irene Marie Eriksen (née Hansen).[1]
Eriksen arrived at San Pedro, California, onboard the SS Knud Rasmussen on 13 September 1938. He settled in San Francisco.[2]
Eriksen enlisted as a private (39138706) in the US Army on 17 August 1943 in San Francisco, California. He was not yet a citizen at the time.[3] He was naturalised as a United States citizen on 21 June 1944 at Western Base Section, Liverpool, England. The fact that the two witnesses to the petition was officers of the 2215 Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) suggests that Eriksen was part of this unit. The unit was part of the USAAF logistics at the time of the Battle of Normandy.[4] He was released from service in 8 December 1946 and had been promoted to corporal at the end of his service.[5]
Eriksen returned to California after the war. He was married to Doreen Joan Orson in Wolverhampton in Staffordshire, England, on 7 December 1945.[6] He was employed as a autoparts salesman San Mateo, California, in 1950.[7] Eriksen died on 31 December1972.[8]
Endnotes
[1] DNA: Parish register, Absalon sogn. He was baptized Poul Emanuel Eriksen.
[2] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.
[3] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.
[4] Ancestry; California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1888-1991.
[5] Ancestry: U.S. Veterans' Gravesites, ca.1775-2006.
[6] Ancestry: California, Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999.
[7] Ancestry: 1950 United States Federal Census.
[8] Ancestry: U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007.