The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2014, Page 13

Vol. 66 #4
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
155
literary exploration of immigration,
women’s issues, discrimination and war.
And even more, I know he would have
loved to sit at her table to chat about all
these things today, the positive influence
of her remarkable life achievements
and the interesting and serendipitous
connection to his granddaughter.
And so, it is through excited
anticipation of more discoveries in every
moment and the many-layered connections
through family, friends, literature, music,
history, food and culture that I continue to
be enchanted, entertained and inspired.
Commemorating our Servicemen
and Servicewomen
by Elva Simundsson
with contribution from Frank Wilson
Frank Wilson says: “When I asked
my mother, Johanna Wilson nee
Skaptason, about her childhood she would
tell me many stories of her youth. On rainy
days she would get permission from her
mother, my amma, Gudrun Skaptason,
to look at the ‘soldiers book’. The book
had a picture of her father, my afi, Joseph
Skaptason, along with all the men who
served in The Great War. Published in 1923
shortly after the First World War, the book
titled Minningarrit Islenzkra Hermanna
(Commemorating Icelandic Armed Forces)
had short captions in Icelandic along with
the pictures of the Icelandic-Canadian and
Icelandic-American soldiers and sailors.”
{This book was an undertaking by the Jon
Sigurdsson Chapter of the Imperial Order
of the Daughters of the Empire.) “Just like
my mother, I remember being impressed
by all the young men who served, all the
medals earned and the famous William
Stephenson. He became a key figure in
the Second World War and had the code
name Intrepid and was said to have been Ian
Fleming’s inspiration for the James Bond
novels.”
A quote from the Introduction of the
book, Minningarrit Islenzkra Hermanna
by Rev. Rognvaldur Petursson states (in
Icelandic) “What did Icelanders do while
the world fought?” To answer this question
was the reason behind this huge effort to
assemble, as complete as possible, a listing of
all the Americans and Canadians of Icelandic
descent who had taken part in the Great
War. Especially important in this collection
was the effort of memorializing those
young men who gave up their lives in this
awful war. Much of the drive to publish this
work came from Gudrun Skaptason whose
husband Joseph had been one of the young