Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJuly 13, 1894
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Trade / CallingMarine Pipe Fitter
Service Details
Regimental Number3171148
Battalion2nd Washington Infantry Regiment
ForceAmerican Expeditionary Forces
BranchUS Infantry
Address at Enlistment2413 4th Avenue, Seattle, Washington, USA
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathDecember 8, 1956
Age at Death62
Buried AtEvergreen-Washelli Memorial Park Cemetery, Seattle, Washington, USA

Norberg, Victor Albert

Victor Albert Norberg was born on 13 July 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His father Charles Eric Norberg was from Sweden while his mother Marguerite Jensen was from Denmark, the couple marrying in Rat Portage on 16 July 1891. At the time of the marriage Charles Sr’s occupation was given as fireman, later given as fitter in the 1901 census. Other children born to the family in Rat Portage were Charles Edward (1891), Stanley Robert (1900), and Clarence Frederick (1903). In the spring of 1910 the family relocated to Seattle, Washington where Charles Sr found work as a railroad machinist.

According to his Washington WW1 Service Statement record, Victor served during WW1 as  Private 1st Class with D Company, 2nd Washington Infantry Regiment, US Infantry, with military record number 31711498. He had previously served with the Washington Guard for three years and had been working as a marine pipe fitter for the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company. Further details of his service are unknown.

The Washington National Guard had just returned home from guarding the Mexican border when in March 1917, Washington Governor Ernest Lister (1870-1919) ordered units mobilized. The 2nd Washington Infantry Regiment was drafted into federal service on August 5, 1917, and folded into the 41st Division along with National Guard units from Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. The Washington Field Artillery became part of the 146th Field Artillery Regiment. Both units were shipped to France late in 1917. The 41st Division served as a replacement, training, and depot unit. The 146th Field Artillery saw combat duty.

Victor’s brother Charles had also served with the Washington Guard, discharged in 1916. Reenlisting in 1917, he served overseas with the 59th Infantry Regiment.

At the time of the 1920 US census Victor was living at 2413 4th Avenue in Seattle, working as a pipe fitter in a ship yard. By the time of the 1930 census Victor had married Alice Mary Burns. Born in 1910 in Washington, Alice was the daughter of Melvin Leroy Burns and Jennie Beatrice Kearns. In 1932 Alice and Victor gave birth to daughter Shirley Marie. However, the marriage failed and for the 1940 census Victor was living in Seattle with his widowed mother and daughter Shirley while Alice was living with her second husband Berger Jensen. Alice later married Ira Frank Burton in 1947. Victor signed his WW2 registration card in Seattle on 25 April 1942, described as 5 foot 4 inches tall with blue eyes and brown hair. For the name and address of a contact he gave the Pipe Fitters Union on Rainier Avenue in Seattle. At the time he was working in the Lake Washington Shipyards in Kirkland.

Victor died as the result of an accidental asphyxiation caused by a gas heater on 8 December 1956 in Seattle. He was predeceased by his parents and brother Clarence (1935). His siblings Charles died in 1962 in Retsil and Stanley in 1976 in Stanwood, both in Washington. Victor is interred in Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park Cemetery in Seattle.

By Judy Stockham

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