The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2014, Side 27

Vol. 66 #4
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
169
troops in 1945, only 60 Icelandic women
had left for the US.
At the end of the war, in 1945, there
were very few American troops left in
Iceland and a small presence of the Royal
Air Force. In 1946 an agreement was made
to allow the American military use of
military facilities on the island.
It was only in 2006, when
the American base, known as
Naval Air Station Keflavik,
was disestablished that all
American military presence
fully withdrew from Iceland.
Iceland’s twenty-five year
agreement with Denmark
as a separate state under
the Danish crown came to
an end in 1943. Unable to
communicate with the country
due to German occupation
and renegotiate the treaty,
Iceland broke all legal ties
with Demark renounced the
Danish monarchy and became
an independent republic.
Sveinn Bjornsson, elected
Regent of Iceland during the
war, became Iceland’s first
president in the new state on
June 17,1944.
The occupation, despite at
first not being by invitation, in
the end benefited the country.
The economy was at a low point
at the start of the war, but with
the presence of foreign troops
and their demands, it turned
around. Unemployment be-
came virtually non-existent
as workers were needed
for construction of houses,
streets, military bases, and
airfields. This construction
increased the need for modern
machinery, building supplies
and infrastructure. Local businesses became
busier and more profitable with the 30%
increase in population due to the occupation.
The benefits were enough to create the term
“blessad stridid”, “the blessed war”, which is
probably unique around the globe.
PHOTO FROM TERRY TERGESEN FILES
From left: Joey Arnason with Rosbjorg
and Gusti Jakobson