My Trails into the Past

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. When he was eighteen years old, Ernie enrolled at the Navy Recruiting Station in San Francisco on 2 July 1918. He received his training at the Naval Training Camp in San Pedro, California from 16 July to 13 August. He served on board the USS Sequoia from 13 August to 11 November 1918. He was placed on inactive duty on 30 June 1919 at San Francisco. [1] He was discharged on 30 September 1921. [2] He served as a Seaman 2 nd Class. 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 patternm...