Royal Norwegian Navy Sailor Accounted for from World War II (Sigurd Arvid Nilsen)
Date: 27/11/2024 | Ministry of Culture and Equality
The Norwegian War Graves Service announced today that Ordinary Seaman Sigurd Arvid Nilsen, 23, killed during World War 2, was accounted for on 14 November, 2024. An official headstone will be erected on his grave in Flateyri, Iceland.
On 9 April, 1942, Nilsen was assigned to the S.S. Fanefjeld, a defensively equipped Norwegian Merchant Navy ship, as one of two Royal Norwegian Navy gunners serving onboard. The ship was lost with all hands following a torpedo attack from the German submarine U-252 whilst en route from Bíldudalur to Ísafjörður, Iceland.
On 10 April, 1942, an unidentified body was found floating in the sea off Saudarnes. It was recovered by a fisherman and brought to Flateyri, where it was handed over to the authorities. The local doctor wrote down a description of the casualty’s physical appearance. The burial took place on 17 April, 1942.
The casualty was found wearing a lifebelt marked FANEFJ… As the S.S. Fanefjeld was Norwegian Merchant Navy ship, the finding was reported to the Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission (NORTRASHIP), the government-run organisation administering the merchant fleet. Enquiries were made at the time but no conclusion was reached, and the grave was not reported to the Armed Forces.
In 2022, as part of a larger project to find potential Norwegian Armed Forces or Merchant Navy non-commemoration cases from World War 2, the Norwegian War Graves Service was made aware of an Unidentified Norwegian Sailor resting in Flateyri through an Icelandic-language article written in 2009 by the military historian Fridthor Eydal.
Following archival research in Norway and abroad, the description of the body was compared to existing descriptions of the physical characteristics of the two Royal Norwegian Navy gunners serving onboard the Fanefjeld. These comparisons proved beyond any doubt that the casualty resting in Flateyri is Sigurd Arvid Nilsen. The identification has been approved by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence.
Ordinary Seaman Sigurd Arvid Nilsen, naval gunner no. 425, was born in Gildeskål, Norway, on 12 October, 1918. His family has been informed of the identification.
His grave will be marked with an official Royal Norwegian headstone in 2025.
The Norwegian War Graves Service is grateful to Mr. Fridthor Eydal, the Norwegian and Icelandic National Archives, the Norwegian Centre for Seafarers at War and to the Falstad Centre for their support in the research process.
The Norwegian War Graves Service, a part of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality, administers Norwegian war graves abroad and maintains foreign war graves in Norway.