Anton Johnsen Elvesaeter was born in Trondheim, Norway, on November 24, 1906, to John and Gjertrude Elvesaeter. He was the oldest of three children. At the age of 21, while living with his parents in Norway, he entered compulsory military training. Conscription in Norway is the manner in which citizens of Norway are required to serve in the military.

At the age of 25, Anton Johnsen Elvesaeter immigrated to the United States. His arrival date was April 11, 1930, and he was welcomed into the South Dakota home of his aunt and uncle, Anton and Anna Sather. Anton and Anna married in Norway and immigrated to the United in 1900. They became naturalized citizens and had five children. Anton is listed in census records as a well driller at Artesian Well. He also owned a gas station and was the mayor of Presho, South Dakota.

While living with his aunt and uncle in South Dakota, Anton took the name of Tony Sather. Anton’s (Tony) Uncle Anton died in 1941 while he was in the Army, and his aunt Anna died in 1972.

Anton Johnsen Elvesaeter worked at his uncle’s gas station as an attendant until he was inducted (volunteered) for the United States Army on November 21, 1940 (Service Number 37049004). The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 signaled the return of the military draft, which was a way to control how many people entered into the military so that no more than 900,000 would be training at any one time. In late 1942, enlistments were no longer being accepted, but they could volunteer for induction. That is what Anton (Tony) and nine other local men did; they were the first inductees to volunteer from western South Dakota to join the army in peacetime under the selective service act.

One of the reasons that Anton (Tony) enlisted the Army of the United States was due to Germany invading his home country of Norway. Therefore, on November 23, 1940, Anton (Tony) and the nine other men from South Dakota arrived at Fort Meade, Maryland. Basic training was not new to Anton (Tony) as he had six months of service experience in the Norwegian army. In an Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD) newspaper article dated May 20, 1941, Anton (Tony) stated: “it goes back to 1928, but the basic training was very similar to that he received as a trooper in Uncle Sam’s army.” The article continued: “This unit was stationed at a fort called Agdenes Befestninger, near Trondheim. “We didn’t work with radio as the army does now,” Elvesaeter said, “but we used field telephones, lights and flags.”

Pfc. Anton (Tony) Elvesaeter was first assigned to Company H, 3rd Infantry, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Fort Snelling in Minnesota was an induction point and reception center for men and women who joined the armed forces. On February 6, 1941, he was sent back to Fort Meade and spent two months in the medical detachment. He was then transferred to “G” Troop where Anton (Tony) said “he finds his work as a motorcycle scout much more to his liking.”

In January of 1943, Pfc. Anton (Tony) Elvesaeter became a naturalized citizen. Under “The Second War Power Act of 1942,” an act of Congress, this provided for a simplified proceeding for the naturalization of members of the Armed Forces to be admitted for citizenship. Anton (Tony) and six other members of the 4th Cavalry from Fort Meade were naturalized at the same time.

Pfc. Anton (Tony) Elvesaeter, now assigned to the 24th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized, Troop B, 4th Mechanized Cavalry Group (MGC), left for England on December 15, 1943. Training was being conducted for the invasion of Normandy, a cross-channel invasion into France scheduled for June 5, 1944. Due to poor weather conditions on June 5th, the invasion was postponed 24 hours.

The assignment of the 4th MCG (Mechanized Cavalry Group) was the task of capturing Isles Saint-Marcouf; these French Territory islands during WWII were needed by the Allied forces to secure the approaches to Utah Beach. Isles Saint-Marcouf was 6,000 yards out from Utah Beach. Their mission was to neutralize the fortifications erected there by the Germans.

At 04:30 hours on June 6, 1944, four U. S. soldiers, armed with only knives, swam ashore from two-man canoes. When they verified that the island were unoccupied, 132 troops from the 4th and 24th Squadrons of the 4th Cavalry Group landed on the islands. Although they faced no resistance from German soldiers, 19 men were either killed or wounded by mines and booby-traps left by the Germans. Pfc. Anton Elvesaeter was killed instantaneously at the age of 38 when a mine exploded sending steel-balls everywhere.

Pfc. Anton Johnsen Elvesaeter is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial (Plot C, Row 9, Grave 40) in Normandy, France. He was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously for his brave actions on June 6, 1944; a day in history that will forever be known as D-Day.

SOURCES:

Ancestry.com: Global, Find a Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current; U. S., World Ward II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947; New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1937; and U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S., Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949.

Newspapers.com: Deadwood Pioneer Times (Deadwood, South Dakota), Jan 21, 1943; Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, South Dakota), May 19, 1941; Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, South Dakota), Nov 23 1940; Argus-Leader (Sioux Fall, South Dakota), Sep 3, 1944; and Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), May 20, 1941.

www.honorstates.org

https://www.uscis.gov/military-naturalization-during-wwii

www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/military-history/world-war-ii

https://en.wikipedia.org/Norwegian-military-academy

www.findagrave.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian-Army

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Cavalry_Regiment_(United_States)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24th_Cavalry_Division_(United_States)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iles_Saint_Marcouf

www.yeide.net/W_W_II_History/Cavalry-Histories.html

This story is written as part of the Stories Behind the Stars Initiative, a national effort of volunteers to write the stories on Fold 3.com of all 400,000+ Americans killed in WWII. This initiative is committed to organizing one central digital location to collect the stories of the fallen so future generations will be able to learn about the Americans who paid the ultimate price during WWII for our freedoms. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more and/or volunteer or donate. Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the name of the fallen and read his/her story.

Anton J Elversaeter