CAMBRIDGE, U.K. — North Dakotans and Minnesotans proved to be worthy amateur sleuths a couple of years ago in trying to track down photos of fallen WWII American soldiers. Now you’re being asked to do it again.
The Cambridge American Cemetery in England needs your help in finding photos to go with thousands of American graves on their land.
According to the American Battle Monuments Commission, “The (Cambridge) cemetery contains the remains of 3,811 of our war dead; 5,127 names are recorded on the Walls of the Missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. Most died in the Battle of the Atlantic or in the strategic air bombardment of northwest Europe.”
To mark Memorial Day, those who run the cemetery are hoping to post the photos beside the grave markers and Walls of the Missing. They need your help to find images of these men.
Can you help? If you have any information about any of these men, email me at tracy.briggs@forumcomm.com. I have additional information about some of them if you need more clues.
Listen to the Podcast here:
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Following Margraten’s lead
You might remember a couple of years ago, the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten attempted a similar mission — to further honor American soldiers who died fighting the Nazis there. The Dutch went so far as to "adopt" graves of the soldiers buried so far from American soil. For more than 70 years, Dutch families have adopted soldiers and taken care of their grave markers as if they were family.
As Margraten set out to hold a 75th anniversary celebration in honor of Dutch liberation in 2019 and 2020, cemetery volunteers reached out to Americans to search for photos to put alongside their gravestones.
And boy did American genealogy nuts in North Dakota and Minnesota come through! Of the dozens of men on the list, there are now only seven Minnesotans buried at Margraten without photos and one North Dakotan. See the bottom of this story for the names still in need of photos at graves in the Netherlands. Many have been the subjects of extensive searches, but hope is still alive that someone out there might be able to locate a photo.
But now, a closer look at the names in need of photos just released from the Cambridge cemetery.
American soldiers buried at Cambridge still in need of photos:
Minnesota:
- Henry Edmund Allen, Douglas County
- Arvin Leroy Anderson, Battle Lake, Otter Tail County
- Jack F. Anderson, no county listed
- Floyd Victor Asleson, Freeborn County
- Cyril Edward Curb, Koochiching County
- James Walter Dobie, Le Sueur County
- Bernard Douvier, Stearns County
- Donald E. Ellson, no county listed
- Henry E. Forslin, Meeker County
- Alex J. Gadding, no county listed
- Francis Bewick Glass, Park Rapids, Hubbard County
- Estel E. Gosse, no county listed
- Robert J. Hayes, no county listed
- Edward Eugene Helgren (brother lived at 2701 Cleveland St., Minneapolis)
- Earl William Holliday, 2822 Lyndale, Minneapolis, Hennepin County
- Charles F. Jackson, Winona County
- Jerome Nels Jacobson, Hennepin County
- Charles Oswald Jahn, Ramsey County
- Earl J. Jaskowiak, Silver Lake, McLeod County
- Henry Norman Jelle, Beltrami County
- Richard H. Jensen, no county listed
- Virgil Frederick Jenzen, Brown County
- Charles A. Johnson, Hennepin County
- John J. Jones, no county listed
- Harold (Harry) R. Just, no county listed
- Kenneth Sergius Kaufenberg, St. Paul, Ramsey County
- William H. Kelly, no county listed
- Roy E. Kerr, no county listed
- John Merritt Kiefer, Sparta, Monroe County, Wisconsin
- Robert J. Larson, Crookston, Polk County
- Harding William Martenson, (mother’s address was in Long Prairie)
- Lawrence Jacob Mayer, Minneapolis, Hennepin County
- James Edwin McLeod, Boone County, Iowa
- Reid Quentin Merry, Laurens, Pocahontas County, Iowa
- Benjamin Petitt Joseph Myers, Minneapolis, Hennepin County
- Warren George Oaks, Graceville, Big Stone County
- John Theodore Pehrson, Minnesota City, Winona County
- Elmer J. Potvin, Crow Wing, Crow Wing County
- William F. J. Reynolds, no county listed
- Nicolas Paul Rich, Duluth, St. Louis County
- Edward F. Ryan, no county listed
- Kurt Frederick Schellhas (lived in Winona in 1940)
- Jerome Walter Schuck (parents lived in Faribault, Rice County)
- Henry Junior Schuman or Henry Schuman, Jr, no county listed
- LaVern A. Senn, Hokah, Houston County
- Kenneth J. Smith, no county listed
- William Herbert Spicer, no county listed
- Joseph Anthony Stilinovich, Hibbing, St. Louis County
- John A. Strouse, St. Paul, Ramsey County
- Alphonse J. Terwey, Melrose, Stearns County
- Robert Estis Wallace, no county listed
- Robert Dean Wolf, Owatonna, Steele County
- Leighton K. Zeiner, Dundee or Kinbrae, MN
North Dakota
- Gamaliel Theodore Arason, Mountain, Pembina County
- Gottlieb G. Breitmeyer, Ashley, McIntosh County
- Ralph T. Cameron, Grand Forks County
- Christ J. Dauenhauer, Mott, Hettinger County
- Camille Isidore DuPuis, Thorn, Pierce County
- Loris Merlin Espeseth, Traill County (photo search underway)
- Obert Leslie Halseth, Devils Lake, Ramsey County
- Gust Angelo Kandas, Minot, Ward County
- John G. Kowalski, Park River, Walsh County
- John Mintz, Monango, Dickey County
- Abner J. Olson, Southam, Ramsey County
- Vincent Vernon Osadchy, Rushville Township, McLean County
- Warren D. Paton, Dickey, LaMoure County
- Orville D. Rhine, Barton, Pierce County
- Earl R. Robinson, Mohall, Renville County
- Larus T. Snydal, Gardar, Pembina County
- Harlen A. Waslien, Traill County (photo search underway)
*For some reason, a handful of men on this list are from Iowa and Wisconsin.
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Photos needed for people at the Netherlands Cemetery in Margraten:
Minnesota:
- John Detlefson, Brown County
- Herbert W. Ellerbusch, Rice County
- Roy W. Evans, Crow Wing County
- Marvin E. Kayute, St. Louis County
- Lloyd M. Peterson, St. Louis County
- James W. Scott, Faribault County
- Isadore Wolstein, Hennepin County
North Dakota:
- Neil McIntyre, Williams County
Volunteers have done an exhaustive search for McIntyre in the Williston area, with no luck. His family is also believed to have moved to the Flint, Mich., area.
Again, just email me if you have any photos or information about any of the North Dakota or Minnesota soldiers buried at either Cambridge or Margraten. Wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to honor them for their sacrifice?
