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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I've read with incredible fascination everything that I could locate of my uncle Ernest Julius Erickson's writings. From his multiple diaries, letters and cards it has opened up his life to me. The stories told by my father and grandfather filled out EJ's life in finer detail and in that created the myth of a true westerner. Studying the photographs of Ernest Julius and researching what I could of his time has been a revelation. I feel I know him. My passion is to find out more about this uncle of mine that lived only twenty nine years. One of the saddest days I am sure for the family back in 1918 was when word came home that Ernest Julius had been killed by a sniper on October 10th, 1918 in the Argonne Forest in France during the Meuse Argonne Offensive. The Bismarck Tribune article below dated November 7th, 1918 tells it plain and simple. But there was so much more to Ernest's Julius's story. From a childhood in Sweden to the day in 1903 when he and his family immigrated to the states. The family soon after arrival in the Dakotas began farming land in Ghylin Township near Regan, North Dakota. Then there was his later Cowboy days with my grandfather Frank in Oregon. Ernest Julius lived only twenty nine years and packed what he could in that time, seeking as much adventure, freedom and experiences as he could muster. In that I continue on, in following his life trail where it leads. goes simply: "Went and signed up for Uncle Sam today, so if he wants me, I’m ready to go." Ernest Julius (photograph below) would be first of three brothers to enter service in late 1917 and train at Camp Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. He shipped out to England from Brooklyn Harbor on July 6th, 1918 and ported in Liverpool. By September of 1918 Ernest would find himself in the Argonne Forest in France serving with the 361st Infantry. His final diary entries here tell the end of his story, but as time went and others carried on his memory, the story only seemed to grow.
Last photo here of Ernest Julius (on right) playing pool at his Wilton Pool Hall with a buddy in
Wilton, North Dakota in 1914. January 22nd through October 3rd, 1917 Part II of the Dakota Diary Trilogy "Deer Hunt Diary" September 18th through September 26th, 1917 Part III of the Dakota Diary Trilogy The Man From Painted Woods "The Forest of Argonne Diary” On the Western Front - France September 26th through October 8th, 1918. |
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