Aage Jensen

T/5 in 3133rd Signal Service Co

Born 1925 in IL, Died 1999

Other residence(s): Chicago, IL; Bartlesville, OK; Geneva, IL

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: student

College education after the war: DePaul Univ.

Notes: Rank changed from PFC in Ghost Army roster to T/5 per Christmas 1944 Dinner Program supported by image which accompanies this biography; final rank Staff SGT per obituary

Source: 3133rd Program, 15 Sep 1944; Col John Walker List; 3133rd roster from 10th Mountain Division Museum at Fort Drum; AES 1944 Christmas Dinner Program; photo courtesy Diana Weingate

Aage Jensen was born on September 2, 1925 in Chicago, IL, the third of four children. His father operated a coal and ice business; both of his parents had been born in Denmark.

Charles Weingate (L) and Aage Jensen in Rome; photo courtesy Diana Weingate

While still a high school student, he registered for the draft on September 2, 1943, his 18^th birthday, and enlisted on February 26, 1944. He was eventually assigned to the 3133 Signal Service Company and saw service with the unit in Italy near the end of the war. He was discharged on July 2, 1946 and a few weeks later, on July 20, he married Mary Ellen Phillips in Watertown, NY—they had likely met while he was stationed at Pine Camp.

Aage returned to Chicago with his new bride, and enrolled at DePaul University. He received his degree, and became the father of a son, Philip, in 1949. In 1950 he was working as an accountant in a transportation rental business.

Sometime in the early 1950s, the family moved to Bartlesville, OK. Aage and a friend and business associate, C.R. Musgrave, Jr. of Bartlesville, gradually acquired several companies, including Major Leasing Services, Inc. and Rental Transportation, Inc. These companies evolved into Major Enterprises, Inc. of Bartlesville and Chicago, and Gem Oil Company in Aurora, IL.

Aage and Mary became the parents of a second child, a daughter, Susan, around this time. Then in 1956, their son, Philip, died in a freak accident at home. The couple went on to have two more children: Martin and Phyllis, and moved back to Chicago in the summer of 1960. Their relationship did not survive the combination of Philip’s death and the move, however; since they divorced within a couple of years.

On July 12, 1963, Aage married Lavonne Kesner, a woman from Bartlesville. She brought two sons, Stephen and Michael, to the marriage. Aage and Lavonne went on to have two more children together: Kristina and Mark. The family settled in Geneva, IL.

Aage continued to be involved in the businesses he had developed with his business partner, and also operated the Holiday Inn in Bartlesville, OK and the Shield Oil Company in LaSalle, IL.

Aage enjoyed golfing and, while living in Geneva, was active in the Oswego American Legion, the Oswego Lions Club, and the Aurora, IL Optimist Club. He was a parishioner at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Oswego.

He died on August 29, 1999, and is buried at Pierce Cemetery in Oswego, IL.