A 17-year-old from Lihaugen in Ålesund goes ashore without knowing a word of English. He still deserves America’s highest military award. His son is not much worse.
The year is 1893. Martin Torinus Torgersen hasn’t been a sailor very long. But he signs off in the southern port of Savannah anyway.
Five years later, Martin enlists in the US Navy. It is here that he will perform great deeds in combat. More than enough to earn him the Medal of Honour.
Martin’s son Harry Torgerson also becomes involved in wartime - as a soldier in the Pacific in the forties. At the same time, a Norwegian cousin ends up in the clutches of the Gestapo.
The Author, Alf Ringdal is married into the family. With the book “From Lihaugen to Arlington” which was published earlier this year, he will revive some incredible destinies.
Courage and coincidence
– This is not just about medals and battlefields. It is a story about how far a life can go, and how courage and chance can lead a boy from Sunnmøre all the way to the US National Honour Graveyard.
War in China
Newly recruited Martin comes aboard America’s first modern cruiser, the USS “Newark”:
The USS “Newark” was the Navy’s most modern cruiser in the 1890s. Photo: Edward H. Hart / Library of Congress
The Spanish-American War is raging. Our man also takes part in the Chinese “Boxer Rebellion”. And this is where his heroism is particularly evident. The Boxer Rebellion is actually the “Union of the Righteous Nevers” - China has now experienced much rule by foreign powers. “Newark” is deployed in a multinational force to put down the uprising. They succeed after hard fighting.
Gunnery Constable Martin is honored with this background: “In combat with the relief expedition to the Allied forces in China, 13, 20, 21 and 22 June 1900. During this period, and in the presence of the enemy, Torgersen distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.”
In Sunnmørsposten on April 13, 1973, some more information about the heroic deed was reported: “There was a large loss of life on board, Martin was badly wounded, but he nevertheless crawled to one of the ship’s cannons, had it loaded and fired at the enemy warship. It was a direct hit.”
58 veterans are awarded the Medal of Honour after the Boxer Rebellion. The boy from Lihaugen in Ålesund becomes one of the very few Norwegian-born to receive that honor.
Ashore, Martin Torgersen takes a job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He marries Danish Marie Larsen and eventually becomes an American citizen in 1905. Both died in 1935 and were buried in Arlington National Cemetery:
Martin and Marie’s grave at Arlington Honors Cemetery.
Photo: Elizabeth Fraser / US Army
Two of the four children become involved in World War II, namely Reinert “Ray” Torgerson in the Marine Corps, and Harry Laurence Torgerson:
Lieutenant Colonel Harry Torgerson resumed his civilian life after World War II, but did not live to be more than 45 years old.
Photo: Courtesy of Alf Ringdal
Battle in the Pacific
Harry will make headlines around the world. In August 1942, he takes part in the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. As second-in-command of a parachute battalion, he must lead the attack on Gavutu – a tiny islet. But here the Japanese have built a seaplane base and dug countless bunkers and trenches. The story goes that Harry, using twenty boxes of TNT, single-handedly blows up around fifty machine gun nests with around 500 soldiers.
In the heat of the battle, an explosion rips off the seat of his pants – a point that made headlines in several subsequent newspapers. The gunshot wound to his left wrist does not prevent him from finishing.
Contempt for danger
His Silver Star is justified as follows:
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity”. Captain Torgerson “with gallant disregard of the imminent danger, performed his duties with outstanding skill and undaunted courage (…) until the designated enemy positions were destroyed”.
Harry later takes over leadership of the battalion.
The Battle of Guadalcanal is considered a turning point in the Pacific War. Harry and his actions are featured in several American books. The Silver Star is the 3rd highest military decoration in the United States.
Harry ends his military career as a lieutenant colonel and resumes his studies, completing them in 1948. But unfortunately he does not live more than 45 years. Harry Torgerson passes away in New York in 1958.
In the “old country”, the cousin Leif Heinz Torgeirson, son of the author Reinert, is suspected of being involved in the Osvald group’s actions around the capital. He is arrested and imprisoned twice, but is eventually released.
Origin in Ålesund
– Few families can point to a father awarded the Medal of Honor and a son with the Silver Star, points out Alf Ringdal.
– In this resourceful and socially committed family, the urge to work and courage have been expressed in various forms. All originating in a working-class environment in Ålesund. One of the strongest aspects of working on the book has been the contact with Martin’s descendants in the USA.
Three of the grandchildren – Gay Burdick, Marie Jackson and Lee Bowen – have contributed memories and information that bring the story to life, the author says.
– I was moved to tears reading about Grandpa Martin, and his life, of which I only knew fragments. He sadly died four years before I was born. I remember Uncle Harry well, but I still remember little of his experiences, says 87-year-old Lee Bowen.
-“Martin must have jumped off a boat in Savannah and made his way along the coast to New York. I’m finally starting to understand more of how this all fits together,” says Marie Jackson.
– We are all faced with the same question: How did Martin get from Europe to America?
Knut Maaseide is particularly interested in older maritime history. After Ringdal’s book was available, he has found the fifteen-year-old first voyager Martin Torinus Torgeirson – as a cook on board HW Friis’s skating galley “Expedit” from Aalesund on a trip to Scotland in the summer of 1891. The ship he disembarked from in February 1893 has not yet been found.
– Maybe someone out there has the answer?
Alf Ringdal is married to Inger Falkevik, great-granddaughter of Martin Torgersen’s sister Gunda Mathea Torgeirson.
“From Lihaugen to Arlington” is distributed via Amazon. It is also available in an English-language version.
