m a r k e r i c k s o n p a i n t i n g s Frank Severin Erickson Ernest Julius Erickson Andrew Anders Sebran Erickson American Expeditionary Force 1918 - 1919 Out West & North Dakota
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My grandfather Frank Gustaf Severin Erickson wrote this letter from White Pine, Oregon on December 14th, 1917 in Swedish to his mother Christine Brita (Olson) and father Anders Alfred Erickson at the family farm in Regan, near Wilton, North Dakota. Frank had joined the American Expeditionary Force out of Baker, Oregon in the summer of 1917 and was awaiting orders from the army on what training camp he would report to. By early 1918 he was heading to Camp Lewis near Tacoma, Washington to visit his brother, Ernest Julius Erickson, who was training there since late 1917. Frank ended up training at Camp Upton on Long Island in New York, then prepared for debarkation to Europe at Camp Mills, NY. On August 8th, 1917 he boarded the steamer Nestor with the 160th Infantry of the 40th Division out of Brooklyn Harbor and crossed the Atlantic to port in Liverpool, England. Three weeks later Frank along with Company H were replacements crossing the English Channel with the 308th Infantry of the 77th Division and headed to France. He would serve at the Front as a Runner / Rifleman under the command of Major Charles White Whittlesey. The 77th would be involved in the massive Meuse Argonne Offensive that would eventually lead to the end of the war. Frank was a fortunate survivor of what would soon be referred to as the "Lost Battalion. On the evening of November 26, 1921, three years following all the troops return Major Whittlesey despondent and harshly affected by the war committed suicide. He was last seen late at night after dinner and drinks with friends aboard the SS Toloa and was never seen again. He had jumped overboard in the dark as the ship sailed from New York to Havana. Whittlesey's body was never recovered. The war took casualties long after the last shot was fired on November 11th, 1918.
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