Axel Christoffersen

Cemetery in France	Documents	Grave in Virginia
	- O - O - O -
A theory / idea	Maps and pictures	What really happened

Below are links to various pictures related to Axel Christoffersen, who died during World War 1.

In late 1999 and early 2000 when I went to see Alice (My grandmother) at the old peoples home I often brought some pictures for her to see and identify the persons on them. Once, I brought a picture of the Christoffersen children from 1903, and she said one persons name was Axel. My mother later confirmed this, and said he died during World War 1. She remembered when she was a child 30 years after he died, that the mention of his name made the adults silent and sad. It was a terrible shock for the family and therefore the subject was avoided for years. As a consequence nobody really knew what happened.

Amongst some pictures and papers, I found a newspaperclipping, giving the date and the name "La Blanche" as the place he died, though not mentioning in which country. The clipping was about a memorial erected in Aarhus Denmark.

I went there twice during the spring of 2000. The first time, the pictures were ruined by sun reflections in the bright stone plates. The second time, I had more luck as rain was pouring down :). After seeing it, I went to the City Hall to get information about who was responsible for it. Through them, I got a copy of a letter Axels father Peter Christoffersen had written, saying in what area he was killed. With this information and a few maps, my parents and I found Chateau-Thierry (it's about an hour east of Paris by car), and in a few books I found some information about the battle. The same day I went on the Internet and found Gilles Lagins web-site. I mailed him, and the next day I received a reply from him with all the facts he had about Axel and the battle.

Gilles Lagin is a mechanic by trade who has specialised in the history of the battle, and in February 2001 he took us (My parents and I) on a tour through the area following the exact route Axel and the 5th US marines had taken from when they arrived in the area until he died, and also showed us the memorial in Belleau Wood.

Family Pictures	The Battle of Bois de Belleau	The Memorial in Aarhus