Mogens Ernst Bech (1927 - 2009)

Born 12 Apr 1927 in Kirkpladsen 4, Korsør, Denmark

Ancestors

Son of Ernst Sofus Hansen Bech and Inger Margrethe (Jensen) Bech

Husband of Evelyn Mary Philomena (Oxley) Bech — married 3 Jan 1957 in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 2009 at about age 81 in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Paul Bech [send private message]

Mogens Bech migrated from Denmark to Australia.

Biography

My father left Denmark during World War II and worked as a merchant seaman in the North Atlantic conveys. mainly between the USA and Murmansk. He said he had the pleasure of being bombed by both sides during the war.

After the war he remained a seaman, sometimes working for a time in the various cities his ships stopped in. For example he told me he work as a painter on the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco until his lack of a social security number caught up with him and he had to move on.

He told me he learnt English by listening to the radio and reading American westerns. He told a story of hearing about great roast chicken when his ship was in South Africa and the crew arriving in the restaurant for a feed where he was to interpret their request for roast chicken. After numerous attempts to make himself understood they had to settle for roast beef as the waiter was horrified at his request for roast kitten!

He told me that shortly after the war while back in Denmark, he worked as a liason between English sailors and Danish sailors on submarines procured from England. According to www.navalhistory.dk this would have been on any or all of ex-HMS P.52, HMS Vulpine, or HMS Vortex.

He eventually "jumped ship" in Townsville in Queensland, Australia in the mid-1950's. He would never again leave the shores of Australia. He lived for over 40 years as an "illegal immigrant". In the 90's he decided he might like to revisit Denmark. As he would need documentation he began a process to legitimise his stay in Australia by obtaining permanent residency. The first step was to obtain his Danish passport. When he arrived at the Danish Consul in Sydney to do so, the Consul General came out of his office to exclaim "Forty years!" to which my father responded, "I haven't been hiding". After much paperwork and monetary transactions with the Australian government, he was finally granted permanent residency (but he never returned to Denmark).

His main employment was a bricklayer.

His father Ernst and brother Helge visited him in Australia once each over the years.

One of my favourite stories he told was of applying for jobs in Australia. When Australians saw his first name they would say "What's this...Mugens? We'll just call you Mug!" Not a good thing to be called in Australia so he began to use his second name, Ernst, which became Ernie.

DNA

• Maternal relationship is confirmed by a triangulated group on MyHeritageDNA who share a 13.8 cM segment on chromosome 2, consisting of Paul Bech and Jon Sørensen, his 4th cousin 1x removed, and Vinni Pedersen, his 4th cousin 1x removed. (Jon and Vinni are 5th cousins.) These matches have been independently verified by via the MyHeritage Chromosome Browser. Their most-recent common ancestors are Jens Andersen and Ane Rasmusdatter, the 3x great grandparents of Paul Bech and 4x great grandparents of both Jon Sørensen and Vinni Pedersen.

• My Heritage DNA match, Paul Bech, 2nd cousin once removed to Bradford Kelly

Sources