Found his deceased father's signature

American David Wold wanted to find traces after his father's time in "Little Norway". The Norwegian Aviation Museum assisted him and found his father's name on the famous tablecloth of World War II.

- Since mother and father passed away, we’ve been unable to talk to them about their lives. We became really interested in getting to know their past. When I heard of this tablecloth, I really wanted to find out if dad had signed it, says David Wold.

The tablecloth he speaks of is one of the museum's most valuable artifacts, consisting of 683 embroidered signatures from those who traveled to defend Norway in Canada in 1940. The historical significance of this object is evident from the fire instructions at the museum. In case of fire, the fire department is instructed to save one specific object from the collections, namely the tablecloth.

Magnus was the one who located Mr. Wold´s embroidered signature.

Every year the museum is visited by guests in search of family members who signed the tablecloth.

THE HISTORY OF THE TABLECLOTH

The secretary of Little Norway, Harriet Skog, was the first person to meet the boys who came to sign up for service in Canada during World War II. Many of them had long, exhausting and dangerous journeys behind them, and Harriet was deeply fascinated by their stories. She decided to preserve the memory of these brave men by letting them sign their name on a tablecloth when they graduated as pilots. Afterwards, she embroidered over the signatures. Everyone who signed the tablecloth participated in the war with the allied forces afterwards, and many of them fell in battle. Their heroic efforts were presented and decorated with Norwegian flags, in Harriet’s needlework.

FOUND THE SIGNATURE

After the inquiry from David Wold, it did not take long for the museum to locate the name of Ragnar Wold in the alphabetized list made for survivors who want to find their family. It proved itself to be harder to localize the name on the fabric itself among 683 other signatures. We were helped by Magnus who worked with us during his school’s work practice week. After locating the signature, a photo was sent to the sons of Mr. Wold.

-          I'm so grateful I got help finding it. Seeing his signature was very special for us, says Wold.

Ragnar Wold photographed in uniform during his training in Little Norway.