World War One Veteran

World War One

As I stated on the home page, our family found a World War One uniform in my grandparents attic after they passed away.  No one in the family knew that we had close ancestors who served in World War One. I had to find out who this uniform belonged to, but unfortunately I didn't have any information to go from.  After a lot of searching through historical documents and researching at the Stout Archives, I still couldn't figure it out.  I finally decided to buy a subscription for Ancestry.com in order to get access to more historical records.  I didn't know where to start, so I just started with one member of the family and searched their names in the World War One databases.  I was finally able to find a World War One Draft Registration card for John G. Halverson, who is my great grandfather.  My grandfather, Donald Halversons, father.  My dad and their siblings were shocked that they didn't know their grandfather had served in World War One.  I have continued my research, but so far the only document I have been able to find related to his services is the registration card.  I will continue this research and am awaiting documents from the government to tell me more specific detail about his service.

Upon finding the World War One registration card for John G. Halverson, I realized the significance of a paper that I found in my grandfathers desk as we were cleaning it out.  In the bottom drawer of Donald's office desk, there was a folder that contained some lineage information and a couple papers that us grandchildren wrote about our ancestors immigration to the U.S.   Among those papers there was a paper written by Cecil Bradstad about his service during World War One.  I had no idea who he was, so I didn't think much of it.  After finding the registration card for my great grandfather, I went back to that paper and read through it.  It is a very interesting and fairly detailed account of him serving on the front lines in France in the trenches.  My hope is that Cecil gave this paper to Donald because he served along side Donald's father, John Halverson, during WWI.  I have no idea if this is true, but for the time being it is another hint in my search for information.

I hope you find his account interesting as it is important to understanding John Halversons service and the rest of the men who left their families in the small town of Dallas to fight in the Great War.

John Halverson

Collection of Donald Halverson, abt 1955

WWI Jacket