{"id":623,"date":"2014-05-26T06:06:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T13:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/natasha\/?p=623"},"modified":"2014-05-25T21:11:41","modified_gmt":"2014-05-26T04:11:41","slug":"memorial-day-george-tolaf-olson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/natasha\/2014\/05\/26\/memorial-day-george-tolaf-olson\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial Day-George Tolaf Olson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"George<\/a><\/p>\n

Today I thought I’d talk a little about my great-grandfather George Tolaf Olsen, a World War I veteran, in honor of Memorial day. \u00a0He did not die in action, but I haven’t unearthed a direct Olsen\/Almquist relative yet that has died in action. George\u00a0was Nadine (Olsen) Wilson’s father.<\/p>\n

George was born and lived in Pocatello, Idaho most of his life. \u00a0He was 23 when he entered service. \u00a0Seven years after the war he married Cecilia Girton.<\/p>\n

As you can see from the headstone George was in the 89th Engineers Division, and was in the Engineers 314th. \u00a0According to the link I found here<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a089th Division\u00a0was comprised of soldiers from\u00a0Kansas, Missouri, Arizona New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Colorado. They trained at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas. \u00a0The nickname for them was the\u00a0Rolling “W” Division or Middle West Division and their\u00a0Major General Commanding was<\/b>\u00a0Frank L. Winn. \u00a0They were engaged in\u00a0<\/b>Argonne, Rhine. Their shoulder\/sleeve insignia looked like this:<\/p>\n

\"Eighty-ninth,<\/p>\n

Their overseas deployment\u00a0began May 24, 1918, and the unit arrived in France in June. \u00a0For its good work during the Meuse-Argonne offensive the 89th Division was chosen to become part of the Army of Occupation. \u00a0The division captured 5,061 prisoners, was quiet 55 days and active 28. \u00a0They moved 48 kilometers.<\/p>\n

For more on what the engineers typically did you can go here<\/a>. \u00a0For a history of where their movements and activities in Europe were, and to see my main source for the details above, you can go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Be sure to appreciate some of that dearly won freedom today!<\/p>\n

\n

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