Danish WW2 Pilots

Leo Ejgil Valdemar Larsen

(1913 - 1960)

Leo Larsen was one of the many Danish seamen, who were abroad at sea, when the Germans occupied Denmark. He volunteered for the RAF later in the war.

Leo Ejgil Valdemar Larsen was born on 29 May 1913 in Copenhagen.[1] His parents are unknown, and he was raised in a foster family in Valby. Trained as an auto mechanic,[2] he was employed in the Citroën works in Copenhagen before the war. However, after the outbreak of the war, the factory closed and Larsen joined the Danish merchant navy as engine assistant.[3]

Merchant Seaman and War Sailor

At the time of the German occupation of Denmark, Larsen was on-board the MS Peru, which was on its way from Japan to Europe. The ship received the call from the Danish consul Knudsen in Columbo to sail for a British harbour. Peru arrived in Aden on 12 April as it had been the originally plan.[4] The ship was seized as a prize ship on 1 May and, later that month, it continued for Europe via Capetown. Peru arrived in Weymouth on the Channel coast in early July 1940, and it was damaged in an air raid on the 11th.[5] The ship was one of fifteen ships from the Danish East Asia Company (EAC) in Allied service during the war.[6] Peru was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Liberia on 12 November 1941, while on its way from Cape Town to Freetown. All fifty people on-board were rescued two days later.[7]

It is not clear whether Larsen was on-board Peru at the time. At some point, he transferred to MS Kina II,[8] another EAC ship in seized by the Allies following the occupation of Denmark.[9]

<em>MS Kina II</em> in August 1942, possibly in New York, where the vessel arrived on 24 July 1942 and left 16 August 1942. An anti-aircraft gun position is seen near the bridge. (Maritime Museum of Denmark).
MS Kina II in August 1942, possibly in New York, where the vessel arrived on 24 July 1942 and left 16 August 1942. An anti-aircraft gun position is seen near the bridge. (Maritime Museum of Denmark).

In Royal Air Force service

Larsen signed off Kina in February 1942, possibly at the ship arrived in Liverpool, and worked in Sheffield for the following 6 months. In August 1942, he wrote to the Recruiting Office, Danish Nationals, enquiring about the possibility to volunteer for the Allied forces.[10]

He seems to have been accepted in the Royal Air Force. At the end of the war, he was stationed at 4 School of Technical Training at RAF St Athen in Wales.[11]

As a member of the merchant navy, Larsen was awarded the War Medal, the 1939-1945 Star, the Atlantic Star, and the Pacific Star with clasp.[12]

Endnotes

[1] DNA: Parish register, Rigshospitalets Sogn.

[2] DNA: Census 1930.

[3] DNA: 10194, Det danske Råd i London, Rekrutteringskontoret, pk. 70.

[4] Tortzen, C. (1981). Søfolk og skibe 1939-1945 : den danske handelsflådes historie under anden verdenskrig, Vol. I, p. 493 and 595.

[5] NA: BT 389/23/186.

[6] Johannesen, O. S. (2007). Kompagniets skibe : motorskibene fra ØK under dansk flag, pp. 12-13.

[7] Johannesen, op.cit., p. 57.

[8] DNA: 10194, Det danske Råd i London, Rekrutteringskontoret, pk. 70.

[9] Johannesen, op.cit., pp. 12-13.

[10] DNA: 10194, Det danske Råd i London, Rekrutteringskontoret, pk. 70.

[11] Ibid.

[12] NA: BT 395/1/55009.