War Sailors (Feature film)

The many Norwegian seafarers that sailed on ships in allied service during WWII has FINALLY got some attention, although there are few left to see it:
https://www.nfi.no/eng/film?name=war-sailor&id=2244

Trailer w/English subtitles:

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Here is the vessel that was used in the filming of War Sailors:

Here is a story about Norway’s (probably the world’s) youngest War Sailor:


One-year-old Thor became Norway’s youngest war sailor.
The little boy has a very special place in Norwegian war history at sea.
Thor Jensen was hired as a “disturbance crow” on his father’s boat when the war forced the family to be away from home for six years. (1939-45)

Now 84 years old:

Memory from X-Mas 1943:

Link: HandelsflÄtens «gullalder» | Facebook
(Don’t know if this is open for view without membership, or if translatable into English)

Found this in Halifax, NS. So there you go Thor.

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During the second world war there was a training base for pilots in Canada, called “Little Norway”:
https://www.wwiinorge.com/notes/little-norway/
Not much left of the original site, but some are retained in Muskoka, where the training centre moved in 1942:

Back to Thor and his adventures as a war sailor.
His Father was Captain on the ship Unita and his Mother was serving onboard as “Salongjente”.
Their 10 year old brother was left with the Grandmother, while 13 months old Thor came along for what was supposed to be a 7 month stint. It ended up lasting for 6 years:

Krigsseiler Øistein Jensen hadde 9. april 1940 med seg sin 13 mÄneder gamle sÞnn Tor Jensen og kone Inga Jensen. Inga Jensen var mÞnstret som salongjente (ikke dokumentert i Londonregisteret), Tor Jensen som «ugagnskrÄke». De var pÄ vei ut med Haugesunds-bÄten «UNITA» for Ä seile i 7 mÄneder. Men de kom ikke hjem igjen fÞr i 1946. Øistein Jensen fortsatte Ä seile etter krigen.

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Source: Øistein Jensen - Krigsseilerregisteret

A bit of background about the Norwegian WWII fleet in allied service.

Sorry, if you want to read the entire article you have to subscribe to Shipping magazine.

PS> There was also a home fleet controlled by the German occupiers and targets for allied attacks, with many casualties, both passengers and crews:

Sorry, not much to find in English.
List of the ships in the “home fleet”:
https://www.warsailors.com/homefleet/index.html

I watched the show and it was quite good and a very different take on WW II from the typical American movie/series.
First off was that the Norwegian sailors were not necessarily all 100% interested in being in a war, but they were drafted more or less just by being there, not much choice given.
Second was what was going on back home. Many of the sailors had families back home in port cities that were being bombed by the USAAF and RAF, so they were hauling bombs from Canada to England to get loaded in airplanes going to their hometown to blow up their own houses and families.

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A BBC Documentary about those of different nationalities who served on Merchant Ships during WWII:

One of those interviewed is Birger Lunde who was torpedoed thrice in the North Atlantic:

PS> After the war he settled in NYC and became an American citizen.

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An iconic picture of a War Sailor:

Source: Norwegian Shipping Historical Society - Eastern Norway (NSS-Ø)

There were also War Sailors serving in the Norwegian home fleet:
https://www.warsailors.com/homefleet/index.html

Many ships in the home fleet were attacked and sunk by allied aircrafts, or sabotaged by Norwegian resistance forces.
One of those ships were the D/S Eira (seen here in a colorized picture from before the war):

She was attacked by allied aircrafts on a minelaying mission 10. Aug.1944:


Source: 16 drept i britisk flyangrep pÄ rutebÄt - smp.no