Nora Emilie Anderson, ANC, Base Hospital 68

Special thanks to Chery Kinnick, herself of Norwegian descent,

and author of the blog, Nordic Blue, who contributed this entry.

“She is a good girl and a good nurse.”

Not many forgotten fallen of World War I were fortunate enough to have a personalized record made of their last hours on earth. The story of this unexpected blessing bestowed upon Nora Emilie Anderson, as she lay dying in an overseas American military hospital, would eventually reach grateful family members back in Minnesota.

Nora had served as an Army Corps nurse at Base Hospital 68, Mars-sur-Allier, France for several months when she fell ill, presumably with Spanish Influenza. She then contracted spinal meningitis, which ended up taking her life on January 16, 1919.¹ Ironically, the armistice had been signed weeks before, in November 1918. Many American medical personnel remained in Europe to continue helping with the sick and the wounded.

In October 1918, the weekly bulletin of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe documented a sharp rise in reports of cerebrospinal meningitis approximately 1 week after sharp increases in reports of influenza and pneumonia. The bulletin noted that “it has been a usual observation that when infections of the upper respiratory tract prevail, the incidence of meningitis in the community increases soon after and this rule prevails at present.²

An account of Nora’s last days was related in empathetic detail by a chaplain who attended her. Gustav Stearns, 127th Infantry, AEF, was present at Mars-sur-Allier during the 1918 holiday season. He later published his recollections in the Lutheran Church Herald. After preaching a Christmas sermon to wounded American soldiers at Convalescent Camp No.1, he was asked to take greetings of peace and goodwill to wounded German Army soldiers at the camp. Before the end of the day, Stearns was approached by a Roman Catholic chaplain who also wore an American army uniform.³

The Catholic chaplain assigned to Base Hospital 68 was urgently looking for a Protestant chaplain to give Holy Communion to a woman of Lutheran faith who lay dying. He encouraged Stearns to follow him at once. “She is a good girl and a good nurse. Her name is Nora Anderson. She has worked hard and faithfully to bring comfort to our sick and wounded soldiers,” the Catholic chaplain told Stearns. He also made known that the young nurse’s dying request was to receive Holy Communion from a Lutheran pastor, and to hear him speak in the language of her childhood: Norwegian. The Catholic chaplain was relieved that he was able to secure the help of a Protestant pastor, even if some of the other particulars could not be met.⁴

When they entered the room where Nora lay, Stearns saw that her head was bandaged and she seemed unable to move. Her eyes were open, however, and she was able to see the two men as they approached. The Catholic chaplain spoke to Nora in a quiet and reassuring tone. “I told you I was going to find a Protestant chaplain for you, did I not?” He then left Stearns with Nora, who began his visit with a Scripture passage and a prayer. When asked if she would like to have him write to her family back home, Nora replied:

Yes. I know I have not long to live. Tell my folks that I was not afraid to die. Tell them I believe that Jesus died for me and that He will welcome me in heaven. And then, there is something else. You see, this is Christmas, and I would like to have you tell them that I said, ‘Glædelig Jul’ [Norwegian for ‘Merry Christmas’].⁵

Nora was a second-generation Norwegian-American born to immigrants Nels Klagstad Anderson and Elisa Olsdatter Thorsen on January 15, 1881, in Rock Dell. The township, located in Olmstead County in the southeastern corner of Minnesota, got its name from Quartzite outcroppings in the area.⁶ Nora was a school teacher in Red Lake County, Minnesota and North Dakota for about ten years.

⁷

She then followed her desire to work in the medical field and entered nurse’s training at the Deaconess Hospital in Grand Forks, North Dakota, graduating in 1911.⁸ Serving the Red River Valley near the Canadian border, it was the first hospital in America built and owned by a Scandinavian.⁹ As soon as the United States entered the war in April 1917, Nora wanted to enlist as a Red Cross nurse. She ended up deferring for a while due to her mother’s illness.

After enlisting in the Army Nurse Corps on February 20, 1918, she was assigned to duty at Camp Custer, Michigan until August of that year. She was sent on overseas duty in September with other members of Base Camp 68, organized earlier that year at Camp Crane in Allentown, Pennsylvania.¹⁰ Together with 86 other Army Corps nurses, Nora was transported aboard the Balmoral Castle from Hoboken, New Jersey to Southhampton, England, followed by additional transport on the Gloucester Castle, which disembarked from Southhampton on October 1, 1918.¹¹

When Nora became gravely ill in late December and was visited by Chaplain Stearns in her hospital room at Mars-sur-Allier, she told him about her home in Minnesota:

[My parents] are Norwegian Lutherans, and so am I. I have been lying here thinking about Minnesota at Christmas time. The wide prairies and the snow-drifts and the big Christmas trees and the church services and I suppose it isn’t very brave of me, but I’m just a little homesick... Have you ever been out in Minnesota, Chaplain?¹²

Chaplain Stearns broke some good news to Nora as gently as possible, since he did not want to excite her and worsen her condition. He asked her to keep perfectly quiet and then said that not only had he been to Minnesota, but he was also born there. He was also a graduate of St. Olaf College and a pastor of the Lutheran Church. Stearns then began giving her Holy Communion in Norwegian, fulfilling her last wish.¹³

At first, Nora assumed a faraway look, and then closed her eyes as if imaging she was elsewhere while listening to his words. When the pastor finished communion, she responded to him in Norwegian and expressed her gratitude. She lingered between life and death for another two weeks afterward. The chaplain later wrote to Nora’s father. “The reply of gratitude which he sent me, I shall treasure until my dying day,” Stearns offered.¹⁴

The day after her death, Nora Emilie Anderson was buried with full military honors at the American Hospital Cemetery at Mars-sur-Allier. The funeral procession was headed by an escort of dozens of soldiers, as well as Chaplain Stearns, who preached her funeral sermon. The casket was covered with an American flag and transported by a hearse.¹⁵ She was the last of five nurses to die at the Base Camp 68 hospital in France. The others were: Mary Burke (d. October 7, 1918), Henrietta Drummond (d. October 10, 1918), Grace Micheau (d. October 28, 1918), and Gladys N. Lyon (d. December 19, 1918).¹⁶

Nora’s body was later relocated to St. Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiacourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle in France, Grave #30, Row 11, Block A.¹⁷ The Anderson family placed a cenotaph near their home at Landstad Cemetery, Pennington County, Minnesota, so they would have a place to visit and honor Nora’s memory.¹⁸ For her military service, she received a Nurse Corps Badge and World War I Victory Medal.¹⁹

The sentiments of Nora’s fellow military personnel at the end of the war can best be represented by a memoriam published in a Base Hospital 68 history:

Our happiness in returning to America was tempered with one solemn thought... Every [person] felt the regret that these comrades who had shared our joy in sailing for France, to do our little part for Freedom, could not be spared to share the joy of our home-coming. But it is for us, the living, to hope that as good and as honorable a death awaits us...²⁰

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References:

1. U.S., Veteran’s Administration Master Index [online database]. FamilySearch.org (accessed November 2, 2020).
2. John F. Brundage. “Interactions between influenza and bacterial respiratory pathogens: implications for pandemic preparedness.” Lancet Infectious Diseases, May 6, 2006; 6(5): 303-312 [online], PMC; U.S. National Libraries of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7106411/ (accessed November 2, 2020).
3. Gustav Stearns. “Christmas in France, 1918.” Lutheran Church Herald (Dec. 19??); [article online]: “Nora ‘Emelia’ Anderson, ANC, Her Service, Illness and Death as written by her attending clergyman,” The United State World War One Centennial Commission [online database], https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/nurses-we-remember/1349-nora-emelia-anderson-anc-her-service-illness-and-death-as-written-by-her-minister.html (accessed November 2, 2020).
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. U.S., Veteran’s Administration Master Index [database online]. FamilySearch.org (accessed November 1, 2020), Nora E. Anderson; Find-a-Grave.com, Nora Emilie Anderson; Landstad Cemetery, Thief River Falls, Minnesota [cenotaph], Memorial ID 53364997.
7. Gustav Stearns. “Christmas in France, 1918”; Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905 [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed November 4, 2020), Nora E. Anderson; Sanders, Red Lake, Minnesota; 1905.
8. “Public Member Trees” [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed November 4, 2020), “Koehn_2010-01-25_2012-03-22” family tree by youngjc_1, profile for Nora Emilie Anderson (1881-1919), “Death in France of Local Nurse: Nora E. Anderson Died Jan. 16 While On Overseas Duty,” undocumented [1919?] Minnesota news clipping.
9. “Grand Forks Deaconess Hospital (Grand Forks, N.D.).” SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Context), [online database], https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6w720df (accessed November 4, 2020).
10. North Dakota Military Men, 1917-1918 [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed November 5, 2020),” Nora ‘Emile’ Anderson.”
11. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939 [database online], Ancestry.com(accessed November 3, 2020), Nora E. Anderson.
12. Gustav Stearns. “Christmas in France, 1918.”
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. “Public Member Trees” [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed November 4, 2020), “Koehn_2010-01-25_2012-03-22” family tree by youngjc_1, profile for Nora Emilie Anderson.
16. Alpha Reuben Sawyer, United States Base Hospital 68 A.E. F.: History of the Organization and Personnel (Boston: Griffith-Stillings), 1920. p.64.
17. Nora Emilie Anderson,” HonorStates.org, https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=141510(accessed November 4, 2020).
18. Find-a-Grave.com, Nora Emilie Anderson; Landstad Cemetery, Thief River Falls, Minnesota [cenotaph], Memorial ID 53364997.
19. Nora Emilie Anderson,” HonorStates.org.
20. Sawyer, United States Base Hospital 68 A.E. F., p.64.

Eva Emmons, Women's Oversea Hospitals

Eva Emmons, 1917 passport photo

Like thousands of women, Eva Emmons answered when Uncle Sam called for trained nurses to serve during World War I. Eva served with both the American Red Cross and the Women's Overseas Hospitals, organized by the National American Woman Suffrage Association. And also like so many others, her life was tragically cut short by the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918.

Eva was the oldest of seven children born to David Elisha Emmons and his wife Elizabeth Olivia “Ollie” Lindsey. Exactly when and where she was born isn’t entirely clear, however. In passport records, Eva reports she was born November 28, 1886, in Beason, Illinois, her father’s hometown. However, an Ohio birth record suggests she was born on November 4, 1885, in Pike Township, Brown County, Ohio.^1,2 Eva provides misinformation about herself on more than one occasion so perhaps this alternate birth date was deliberate.

Brown County Children's Home, postcard ca. 1910

Throughout her life, Eva exhibited considerable independence. One contributing factor may have been as a child Eva, and several of her siblings were committed to the Brown County Children’s Home in Georgetown, Ohio.³ The reasons are unknown as several siblings remained with their parents, who were still living. In the 1900 Federal Census, Eva is enumerated as a boarder with the Francis Bartlow family in Lewis Township, Brown County, Ohio.⁴ By 1905 she was making her own way in the world and employed as a dining room attendant at the Longview Asylum in nearby Carthage, Ohio. She worked there for nearly two years, receiving a salary of $12 per month.⁵ Eva later worked at the Columbus State Hospital.⁶

Bellevue Nurse's Pin

From Ohio, Eva moved to New York City where she received instruction at the Bellevue Training School for Nurses, graduating in 1910.^7,8 Nursing degree in hand, Eva first worked as a night superintendent at Bellevue Hospital for a year and later at Sea Breeze Junior Hospital, a tuberculosis hospital for children on Coney Island. She worked at several hospitals throughout New York before volunteering for service with the Red Cross. A biographical sketch from a history of Bellevue Hospital states “from April 15, 1915, till January 16, 1916, she served in Belgium with American Red Cross Unit 1.”⁹ Eva applied for her first passport issued April 9, 1915, and on April 17th sailed for Europe, together with 23 other nurses to be attached to the Belgian Red Cross, aboard the S.S. St. Louis.¹⁰ 

Following their arrival in Liverpool on April 25, the nurses made their way to the Hopital L’Ocean in La Panne, Belgium. A former hotel, L’Ocean was notable for being where the first blood transfusions were carried out and the sterilization of the wounds was developed.¹¹ In January of 1916, after over six months work at the hospital, Eva returned to the U.S., sailing on the S.S. Rotterdam arriving at the port of New York on January 30, 1916.¹² Eva’s time in New York was short, however and she returned to Europe aboard the S.S. Lafayette on June 24, 1916.¹³ Upon her arrival she was attached to Military Hospital V.R. 76. Located at Ris-Orangis (12 miles south of Paris), V.R. 76 treated only surgical cases, and served as the operating center for a group of nine hospitals attached to it.¹⁴ After a year of service, Eva once again returned to New York, sailing from Bordeaux aboard the S.S. Espagne, arriving on July 5, 1917.¹⁵

Osborn Hall, 426 E. 26^th St, New York
Bellevue Training School for Nurses caption

Whenever Eva was in New York she boarded at Osborn Hall, a graduate nurse dormitory located at 626 E. 26th St, associated with her alma mater, Bellevue Hospital. Responding to the government’s call for graduate nurses, Eva re-enlisted for the third time. On July 10, 1918, she was assigned by the Red Cross to U. S. General Hospital 1 in New York but "did not execute orders as she was on duty in a hospital in New York which was caring for wounded and sick officers under government supervision.”⁸

Yet, at some point she volunteered to serve with the Women’s Overseas Hospitals (WOH), sailing on the La Lorraine on September 25, 1918. So impromptu was her departure she didn’t even notify the Red Cross when she went abroad. The Bellevue history noted her behavior “was not uncharacteristic of Miss Emmons: she had several singularities. She was a competent nurse nevertheless.”⁸

While en route to France, many on board began to show signs of the influenza which was ravaging Europe and the Eastern seaboard. Eva cared for them as she’d cared for so many before, include Winifred Fairfax Warder, a fellow member of the WOH.¹⁶ Eva contracted influenza herself and both she and Winifred died days after arriving in France; Winifred on October 8, 1918, at a Red Cross Hospital in Bordeaux, and Eva, on October 11, at the refugee hospital at Labouheyre, she had come to work at.¹⁷

Eva’s story doesn’t end here, however. In 1920, after the war had ended, officials discovered a trunk in a storehouse in Paris. The Army locker, painted drab olive green, was without any other markings identifying its owner. An item in the Los Angeles Times reported how the story unfolded:

   

“The trunk was sent to the lost baggage department in this city [Paris] and the contents were searched. All the apparel appeared to be new material and bore the sales tags of several of the big department stores in New York. There was a complete woman's overseas equipment, shoes, dresses, lingerie, etc. The only name found was “Emmons.” The baggage officers, who have restored thousands of lost trunks to the men of the A. E. F. in this country, canvassed the department stores. At Stern Brothers the accountant department went over their records for the years covering the entrance of this country in the World War. The name of Miss Eva Emmons of 337 Home [s]treet, Georgetown, Ohio, was located.”¹⁸

Now armed with an identification, officials were able to ascertain that Eva had volunteered for overseas service and died shortly after arriving in France. Eva Emmons is buried at Suresnes American Cemetery, near Paris, alongside the soldiers she came to administer to.¹⁹ Eva’s service is also honored on a World War I Memorial in Flushing, New York.²⁰

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References:

1. 

   Los Angeles Evening Herald
    1 April 1920, pg. 8.
   

   "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDN-8DM7 : 16 March 2018), Eva Emmons, 1918; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #33516, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 581, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
2. "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X67S-7V7 : 12 June 2018), Eva Emmons, 04 Nov 1885; citing Birth, Pike, Brown, Ohio, United States, county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 384,296.
3. “An index to the Record of Indentures and Adoptions, Brown County Children’s Home, 1886-1921.” OGS (Ohio Genealogical Society) Report. 1984. 24(3), 146.
4. "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMCC-P9N : accessed 12 June 2018), Eva Emmons in household of Frances M Bartlow, Lewis Township, Brown, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 12, sheet 2A, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,242.
5. Longview Asylum (Carthage, OH). Annual Report of the Board of Directors and Superintendent of the Longview Asylum. 1906. Page 53. (books.google.com/books?id=jconAQAAMAAJ : 12 June 2018), Eva Emmons, dining room attendant.
6. Columbus State Hospital (Ohio). Annual Report of the Columbus State Hospital, to the Governor of the State of Ohio, for the Fiscal Year Ending November 15, 1907. 1908. Page 59.(books.google.com/books?id=ojtHAQAAMAAJ : 12 June 2018).
7. Board of Managers, Bellevue Hospital. Training School for Nurses. 46th Annual Report. (1919). Page 26. In Memoriam: Miss Eva Emmons. (archive.org/details/bellevuehospital1919boar : 12 June 2018)

   

   Headstone of Eva Emmons
   Suresnes American Cemetery
   

8.  United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch
   (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5ZD-ZD3 : accessed 13 June 2018), Eva Emmons, Manhattan Ward 18, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 954, sheet 11A, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1036; FHL microfilm 1,375,049.
9. The Society of Alumni of Bellevue Hospital. “A seven years' record of the Society of alumni of Bellevue hospital, 1915-1921; being the Year-book with memorials of those who died in the great war.” Page 48. Eva Emmons. (archive.org/details/sevenyearsrecord00bell : 12 June 2018)
10. “U.S. Army Hospitals Start for Belgium” New York Times, April 17, 1915, page 13.
11. Hôpital de la Croix-Rouge l'Océan (www.depanne.be/product/1451/35-hpital-de-la-croix-rouge-locean : 12 June 2018)
12. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, National Archives Record Group T715, roll 2450; digital image, Ancestry.com, ancestry.com (accessed 12 June 2018). Eva Emmons, S.S. Rotterdam, sailed 20 January 1916, Rotterdam, Netherlands, to New York, New York.
13. "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-MLW4 : 16 March 2018), Eva Emmons, 1916; citing Passport Application, source certificate #26487, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, Roll 310, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
14. Reckitt, Harold J. “V.R. 76 – A French Military Hospital” London: William Heinemann, 1921. (archive.org/stream/vr76frenchmilita00reckrich : 13 June 2018).
15. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, National Archives Record Group T715, roll 2531; digital image, Ancestry.com, ancestry.com (Access 12 June 2018). Eva Emmons, S.S. Espagne, sailed 23 June 1917, Bordeaux, France, to New York, New York.

    

    Memorial Plaque
    Flushing World War I Memorial
    

16. Lansden, D., et al. “Winifred Fairfax Warder.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 1919. 12(1), 93-106. (www.jstor.org/stable/40187080 : 12 June 2018)
17. “Women Die in Service” New York Tribune, October 19, 1918, page 13.
18. “Trunk is Restored to Kin of War Nurse” Los Angeles Evening Herald, 1 April 1920, Section 2, page 8. (cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19200401 : 12 June 1920.)
19. Flushing World War Memorial (www.nycgovparks.org/parks/flushing-fields/monuments/502 : accessed 12 June 2018.) 
20. Find A Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/55952779 : accessed 13 June 2018), memorial page for [Civilian] Eva Emmons (28 Nov 1886–11 Oct 1918), Memorial no. 55952779.

Copyright 2020 by Lisa A. Oberg, The Forgotten Fallen. All Rights Reserved.

Esther Amundson, ANC, Base Hospital 35

Special thanks to Chery Kinnick, herself of Norwegian descent,
and author of the blog, Nordic Blue, who contributed this entry.

Esther Amundson
Find a Grave Memorial

Just as westward focused pioneers faced leaving fallen loved ones along dusty and forlorn trails leading into the unknown, so it has always been with the parents and spouses of war heroes who die overseas in the service of their country. Otelie Amundson, the mother of Esther Amundson, a volunteer Red Cross Nurse for the U.S. Army, had a tough choice to make after receiving news of her daughter’s death in Mars-sur-Allier, France on October 20, 1918.¹

Esther Amundson, born to Amund I. Amundson and his wife, Otelie (Otterson) Amundson on January 3, 1888, was the second of twelve children. The Amundsons’ Norwegian-American family lived in Sparta Township and the town of Montevideo in Chippewa County, southwestern Minnesota.¹,² The community was built around farmlands and prairies, located in a double river valley where the Minnesota and Chippewa rivers converge. Many Norwegians were drawn to the area after the passing of the Homestead Act of 1862. Esther’s birth occurred during the last days of what is commonly known as the “Children’s Blizzard”—a deadly and unrelenting storm that pummeled many midwestern states during the winter of 1887-1888.

A lovely tribute to Esther Amundson has been written by Katie Craven of Saint Paul Public Schools, as part of a National History Day “Silent Heroes” project. The website, which includes details of Esther’s life, intriguing photographs, and a video eulogy, can be viewed here.

“if grippe [influenza] condemns, the secondary infections execute.”

–Louis Cruveilhier, 1919.³

St. Mihiel American Cemetery at Thiaucourt,
France. The crosses were later replaced with
Carrera marble.⁸

Esther Amundson fell ill with influenza after serving for less than two months at Base Hospital 35 at Mars-sur-Allier in central France. The cause of her death is listed as lobar pneumonia, which is a secondary bacterial infection. During the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, as with other pandemics, bacterial infections often pair with influenza and result in the patient’s death. The “Spanish Flu” is now thought to have originated in the United States. Beginning in April 1918, several months before Esther reported for overseas duty, influenza swept across Europe after arriving on American transport ships at the port of Brest, France.^3,4 Esther was buried by American military personnel near where she was hospitalized. After being laid to rest in a foreign land, the rest of the story becomes one of a parent’s grief and longing.

On the homefront, there were differing opinions about whether or not to bring war dead back to the United States. By the time World War I ended, U.S. military leaders balked at the time and expense to deal with over 70,000 buried in temporary battlefield graves. U.S. Allies were reportedly horrified at the idea of Americans digging up their dead and shipping them home, and French leaders actually banned the removal of bodies until late in 1920. There were American leaders who spoke to the glory of leaving fallen war heroes next to their comrades on the battlefield. Former President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife, Edith, opted to leave the remains of their son, Quentin, overseas. “To us it is painful and harrowing long after death to move the poor body from which the soul has fled,” they offered. Still, there were thousands of Americans who demanded the option of bringing home their deceased loved ones.⁵ Perhaps by default, Esther’s parents opted to leave her remains in France. A request for the disposition of her body does not appear to have been placed.

In a letter dated January 29, 1919, Amund Amundson wrote to the Graves Registration Service in France asking for a photograph of his daughter’s grave and a description of its exact location. Buried the day after her death, Esther’s original battle area grave location was at Mars-sur-Allier, France. It is uncertain if Esther’s parents knew that her remains were actually disinterred twice. All or portions of the original battlefield graveyard became flooded. On June 13, 1919, military personnel relocated her coffin, and presumably those of others, to a location about twelve miles away at Nevers, France. The second disinterment occurred on December 19, 1921, for shipment to St. Mihiel American Military Cemetery, about 250 miles away. The final interment was made on July 10, 1922.¹

Gold Star Mother Passport photo for
Esther’s mother: Mrs. A. I. (Otelie)
Amundson, 1931.

Within a few years of being widowed, Otelie Amundson had an opportunity to visit her daughter’s grave by participating in the Gold Star Pilgrimage. In 1929, the U.S. Congress passed an act allowing pilgrimages to be organized for mothers and widows of fallen service personnel to visit the graves of their loved ones in Europe. Between May 1930—October 1933, 6,693 women embarked for Europe with all expenses paid.⁶

Pilgrimage groups of women were organized by letter; Otelie Amundson was in Party “I.” Like all of the pilgrims, she was given a list of what to pack, along with detailed travel arrangements. The women were cautioned to bring along heavy clothing to protect from cold and damp, also sufficient clothing to outlast a lack of laundry facilities. On July 4, 1931, Otelie left Minneapolis for her scheduled departure from New York City on July 8. Identified as “Mrs. A. I. Amundson,” she was given a check to cover meals and incidental expenses during rail travel from Minneapolis to New York. At the final train station, she was met by a military officer in uniform and escorted to Hotel McAlpin.¹

S.S. President Harding, vintage postcard view

Otelie shared a cabin with another Gold Star Mother aboard the S.S. President Harding, which docked at Cherbourg, France on July 16. From July 17-19, the women attended conferences and visited the Arc de Triumph and Sacre Coeur. Party “I” then left Paris for Verdun, and from July 20-22, engaged in daily trips to St. Mihiel Cemetery. The St. Mihiel American Cemetery in Thiaucourt, France was officially dedicated a few years later, in 1937. The grave of Esther Amundson is one of 4153 burials located on over forty acres. “Beyond the burial area to the south is the white stone memorial consisting of a small chapel, a peristyle with a large rose-granite funeral urn at its center, and a map building. The chapel contains a beautiful mosaic portraying an angel sheathing his sword.”1,7

Original Wooden Marker
Find a Grave Memorial

When visiting the cemetery, the pilgrims were given grave locator cards. A staff member escorted each woman to the grave of her loved one and was given a wreath of flowers to place upon it, after which a photograph was taken. At Hotel Nouvel in nearby Verdun, Otelie, age 68, complained of fatigue and cold, wet feet. While visiting Esther’s grave at the cemetery she was administered the prescribed medication: a dose of brandy.¹

On July 23, Otelie’s traveling party returned to Paris for more sightseeing. The group visited Notre Dame, Chateau-Thierry, Napoleon’s tomb, and also enjoyed a nighttime tour of the “City of Light.” Everyone had the option to attend a church service on Sunday, July 26th, followed by more tourist activity, including the Colonial Exposition and Versailles. While in Paris, the women had plenty of free time to relax at their hotel, enjoy conversation with each other, or explore the city on their own. On July 30, Otelie departed Cherbourg harbor on the SS America. After a month away from home, she arrived back in New York harbor on August 7. She was in good health and relieved that she had finally been able to pay her respects to her daughter in person.¹

The importance of the contributions and sacrifices made by wartime service personnel cannot be overstated. Aged only thirty years at the time of her death, Esther Amundson still had much life to look forward to. Ironically, a dedication to nursing and helping others led to the unfortunate circumstances of her death. If she had it to do all over again, would she make the same choices? In all likelihood, the answer would be: “Yes.”

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References:

1. Esther Amundson, World War I Burial Case File; Correspondence, Reports, Telegrams, Applications and Other Papers relating to Burials of Service Personnel, Records of the Quartermaster General’s Office, 1915-1935, Record Group 92; National Archives and Records Administration - St. Louis.
2. Amundson family, 1905 Minnesota census, Chippewa County, Sparta Township, Sheet 1. Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
3. David M. Morens, Jeffery K. Taubenberger, and Anthony S. Fauci. “Predominant Role of Bacterial Pneumonia as a Cause of Death in Pandemic Influenza: Implications for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness” (Abstract from Journal of Infectious Diseases, October 1, 2008, pp.962-970). NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2599911/ (accessed July 18, 2020).
4. Frederick Holmes, MD. “The Influenza Pandemic and The War.” Medicine in the First World War, The University of Kansas medical Center, http://www.kumc.edu/wwi/medicine/influenza.html (accessed July 18, 2020).
5. Drew Lindsay. “Rest in Peace? Bringing Home U.S. War Dead.” HistoryNet, Winter 2013. https://www.historynet.com/rest-in-peace-bringing-home-u-s-war-dead.htm (accessed July 18, 2020). 
6. Constance Potter. “World War I Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimages, Part 2.” Prologue Magazine, vol. 31, no.3, Fall 1999. World War I Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimages, Part 1 & 2 (National Archives): https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/fall/gold-star-mothers.html (accessed Julyl 18, 2020). 
7. American Battle Monuments Commission. St. Mihiel American Cemetery, http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/st-mihiel-american-cemetery#gallery-anchor (accessed July 18, 2020).
8. The Americans in the Great War, Vol. II, The Battle of Saint Mihiel, series: Illustrated Michelin Guide to the Battlefields, 1914-1918. (Clermont-Ferrand, France: Michelin & Cie), 1919.


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