Earlier this year, I wrote about my husband's great-uncle, Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen, who was a skilled patternmaker. It can be found here. For this week, I want to describe his military service.
After the service with the U.S. Navy, Ernie met his future wife, Mary McConnell, at the E.W. Reynolds Wholesale Jewelry Company where he worked in the shipping department. She was the head cashier. They married on 10 June 1925.[3]
Later Ernie worked as a custom cabinet maker and this led him to enlist again in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a patternmaker first class. He enlisted on 29 October 1942 at Los Angeles for two years. He served aboard the USS Hamul out of the East Coast from the bases in Boston and Quonset Point, Rhode Island.[4] He was forty-three years old at the time of his enlistment.
Analysis
I do not have copies of these two discharge papers and I am
not sure where I got the information. It is possible that my husband’s aunt has
the papers, as she was Ernie’s administrator of his estate.
Searching on Ancestry, I find only information about his WWII service as the WWII Navy Muster Rolls are available, which confirms he was a patternmaker aboard the USS Hamul. Ernie is not listed in the WWI Draft Cards collection because he was not old enough for the registration before he enlisted. The first draft on 5 June 1917 was for men who were between 21 and 31. The second registration was on 5 June 1918 for those men who had reached 21 by that date. Being 18 when he enlisted in 1918, he did not fall under these rules.[5]
He should be in the WWII Draft Cards collection because he was between the ages of 21 and 45 at the time of the 1940 registration. However, he did not register until 14 February 1942. At the time of his registration, he was working for the City of Los Angeles at the Bureau of Water & Power.[6] It seems likely that he told the Navy he was a skilled carpenter and that was how he received the rating of patternmaker.
Future Research
I should order his military file from the National Personnel
Records Center and because he was in the Navy, his records were not involved in
the 1973 fire that destroyed many of the Army and Air Force records. This might
give me more insight in why he enlisted again.
#52 Ancestors: Week 45: War and Peace
This is my sixth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.
[1]
Adjutant General’s Office, State of California, dated March 15, 1939, Ernest
Ferdinand Nilsen.
[2] Discharge,
United States Naval Reserve Force, Sept 30, 1921, Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen.
[3] Marriage
Announcement, "Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Pierce McConnell announce the
marriage of their daughter Mary Wilson to Mr. Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen on
Wednesday, June the tenth, One thousand, nine hundred twenty-five,
[4]
Certificate of Discharge, Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen, 1242066, 15 Nov 1944.
[5] “World
War I Draft Registration Cards,” National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww1/draft-registration).
[6] “WWII
Draft Registration Cards for California, 10/16/1940-3/31/1947,” Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/628927907),
Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen, ser. no. 760, order no. 12024, Los Angeles local board
218, registration 2/14/1942.
Very interesting, two enlistments. Wonder how his wife felt about Ernie enlisting in WWII?
ReplyDeleteThat would be an interesting point to know.
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