T/4 Alfred Gottschalck Mortensen

T/4 Alfred G. Mortensen was born in Denmark and seems to have been naturalised as a US citizen only months before enlisting in the US Army. He served in the 861st Engineer Aviation Battalion constructing airfields in the UK and on the Continent.

Alfred Gottschalck Mortensen was born on 5 February 1910 in Valby, to brewery worker Poul Thorvald Mortensen and Anna Ingeborg Kristiane Nielsine Mortensen (née Gottschalck). Mortensen’s father died in February 1917, when he was only about 7 years old.^[1]

Mortensen was employed as a cabin boy onboard the liner SS Oscar II from circa 1924 to 1927 making several crosses of the Atlantic onboard. He eventually deserted the ship in order to settle in the United States. His brother had emigrated at an earlier date. ^[2] Mortensen declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in New York on 22 October 1936. ^[3] In October 1940, at the time of his draft, he was living in Long Island City, Queens, New York and employed by the Whalen Drug Company.^[4]

Mortensen enlisted as a private (32524580) in the US Army at Fort Jay Governors Island, New York, on 8 October 1942. According to the enlistment record he was not yet a citizen. ^[5] However, according to naturalisation records, he was naturalised a few months earlier on 28 July 1942.^[6]

Mortensen was assigned to the 936th Engineer Camouflage Battalion (Aviation) at Richmond, Army Air Base, Virginia. ^[7] On 1 January 1943, he was assigned to the Headquarteres and Service Company of the 861st Engineer Aviation Battalion (EAB) at the same base. ^[8] The unit arrived in England in May 1943 and began the construction of Boreham Airfield in Essex. ^[9] It cannot be established from the documents available, if Mortensen was arrived with the unit in May 1943, but he is known to have been at Boreham on 1 January 1944, then having been promoted to Technician Fourth Grade.^[10]

Mortensen died on 17 August 1945 after the war in Europe had ended, but while serving in France. The documents available does not reveal the cause of death, but it was likely from an accident. He is buried at the American Cemetery in Epinal, France.^[11]

Endnotes

[1] DNA: Parish register, Valby sogn.

[2] Ancestry: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.

[3] Ancestry: New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943.

[4] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.

[5] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.

[6] Ancestry: U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995.

[7] NARA: RG 64, Morning Reports, Morning Reports from January 1940 - July 1943: Roll 1140 (1 of 4) (NAID: 432651706).

[8] NARA: RG 64, Morning Reports, Morning Reports from January 1940 - July 1943: Roll 1137 (3 of 4) (NAID: 432641484).

[9] Clarke, R. (2003). A medieval moated site and windmill: excavations at Boreham Airfield, Essex 1996, p. 5.

[10] NARA: RG 64, Morning Reports, Morning Reports from January 1944: Roll 693 (3 of 5) (NAID: 462348033).

[11] Ancestry: U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949.