17th Airborne Division Paratrooper Carl Oscar Edward Carlson was born June 18, 1922, and killed in action March 24, 1945, within weeks of the end of World War II on May 8, 1945.
The division, “The Golden Talons,” was an airborne infantry unit of the Army with the motto, “Thunder from Heaven.” Operation Plunder began the evening of March 23. By 10 a.m. March 24, the first Allied airborne units began to land on the eastern bank of the Rhine River.
Carlson was the son of Swedish immigrants and had an older brother, Eric Carlson, who became mayor of Elgin. His father, Oscar Carlson, was born in Vetlanda in Småland, and his mother, Maria Jacobson, in Trollhättan, Västergötland.
Carlson was buried in the Lund Cemetery Sept. 21, 1948, (Memorial ID 52038693).
2nd Battalion Pvt. Rudolph Leroy Eklund was in the 131st Field Artillery, Battery F and died in Burma, Mahaica-Berbice, Guyana, Jan. 5, 1944. Eklund was in the Lost Battalion captured by the Japanese on the island of Java in March 1942. It was called the Lost Battalion because their fate wasn’t known until September 1944. Born July 15, 1919, he was the son of Andrew P. Eklund and Hulda Christine Peterson Eklund and was one of nine children.
Pfc. Electrician Mate Woodrow Wilson Lehman was born June 29, 1914, near the Kylberg Community north of Elgin. Lehman was one of the lost submariners of World War II. He went down in the USS Grunion July 30, 1942, with a crew of 70. The submarine was near the entrance to Kiska Harbor, Alaska, in the Bering Sea, and was probably sunk by the armed Japanese freighter Kano Maru. He posthumously was awarded a Purple Heart.
Henning Lundgren, of Kimbro, was born on May 22, 1890, inducted into the Army Feb. 28, 1918, and died on sentry duty in the Meuse-Argonne region of France Sept. 25, 1918. It was the day before the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, north and northwest of Verdun.
Lundgren was adopted as an infant by Claus Linus Johnson and his wife, Anna Charlotta Samuelson, later known as Marrying Anna. He was only 6 months old when his mother died. He was the son of Emil Lundgren and Ida Maria Johnson and the grandson of Jakob Birat Lundgren Lundgren’s half-brothers were Edwin, Robert and Carl Lundgren. He lived in Type after the death of his adopted father in 1908. Evelyn Marie Carlson said her mother told her Lundgren felt he would not be coming back because he would be killed. He was remembered as having said: “I might as well go stand by the barn and you can shoot me.”
Pedro G. Vega was a casualty of World War II in North Africa. His family lived in Williamson County between Structure and Lawrence Chapel. Vega died May 7, 1943, between Kasserine Pass and Tripoli in Libya. Less than a week later, May 13, the Germans in Rommel’s Afrika Korps surrendered.
On June 18, 1948, Vega was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio (Section O, Site 120) according to the National Cemetery Administration on Ancestry.com.
Two of Vega’s brothers, Staff Sgt. Edward G. Vega and Lance Cpl. Arthur G. Vega, also died, but not in combat. They were at home on leave from Carswell Air Force Base and Camp Pendleton when they were gunned down under questionable circumstances in Taylor. A police officer shot each of them twice because he said they assaulted him. They died on Main and Walnut streets, south of the railroad tracks. That part of the street was called the Line. The area was later bulldozed during a controversial urban reclamation project under Gov. George W. Bush.
ITAL: Charlene Hanson Jordan wrote the above narrative as the latest in a weekly column based on new research.
Jordan’s Patreon website, effective July 3, includes Elgin-area stories with photographs and supplemental history, as well as articles about local Swedes and Germans. Visit patreon.com/ CharleneHansonJordan.
Her latest book, “Notes & Recollections: Post Oak Island & Elgin, Texas” is available at the Elgin Depot Museum with other exhibits, photographs and books on local history. The museum is open noon to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Watch for notices.
“Notes & Recollections” may be purchased from the Niswanders at the Elgin Farmers Market, Veterans Memorial Park, 109 Depot St.
The book is also available at the Elgin Courier; call 512-2853333 or visit 105 N. Main St., Elgin, during business hours, or from Charlene directly at 512-856-2562 or email [email protected].
