Ragnar Ulstein

Ragnar Leif Ulstein MM (19 April 1920 – 3 December 2019) was a Norwegian journalist, writer and resistance member. He wrote several documentary books from the Second World War, including surveys of the SOE group Norwegian Independent Company 1, volunteers sailing from Norway to Scotland, refugee traffic from Norway to Sweden, and military intelligence in Norway.

Early life and World War II Ulstein was born in Ulstein Municipality, Sunnmøre, as the son of Johannes Olsson Ulstein (1879–1969) and Borghild Strand (1885–1964). He finished his secondary education at Volda in June 1940. Later that year he fled to the United Kingdom due to World War II and the German occupation of Norway. Here, Ulstein became a member of the Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1) , led by Martin Linge. He participated in Operation Anklet, a raid at Reine in December 1941. After the raid he returned to the United Kingdom. In 1943 he was a part of the failed operation Vestige I, which involved placing limpet mines on ships in Svelgen harbor. The actual mine placing was performed by Harald Svindseth, but the explosives went off too early, and the ship was docked instead of sinking. Participants in Vestige I fled to England. In 1944 Ulstein was tasked with returning to work as an instructor for Milorg in Sogn og Fjordane. He came via Shetland and landed near Florø together with Harald Svindseth. Svindseth built up a Milorg subgroup near Svelgen with the codename Snowflake, whereas Ulstein led the group Siskin. A new base was started in Frønningen. At most, 480 people had some connection to it. It did not remain operative for long, as it was disbanded at the liberation of Norway on 8 May 1945. Then, Ulstein and 72 others travelled to Gaular to assist in the decommissioning of German forces in the area. For his war contributions Ulstein was decorated with the St. Olav's Medal with two oak branches, the British Military Medal, the Defence Medal 1940 – 1945, and the Haakon VII 70th Anniversary Medal. Ulstein worked as an editor for Filmavisen, and from 1954 as a journalist for various newspapers, including Bergens Tidende and Sunnmørsposten. He was later granted a government scholarship. He later wrote several documentary books on Norwegian resistance during World War II. The two-volume book Englandsfarten (Volume I, 1965 and Volume II, 1967) covered the traffic between Norway and United Kingdom during the early part of the war, while Svensketrafikken (three volumes, 1974, 1975 and 1977) covered traffic of refugees from Norway to Sweden during the occupation. For his post-war work, Ulstein has been awarded the King's Medal of Merit in gold. He married Jenny Hermine Akselsen in 1951.

Honours and awards King's Medal of Merit in gold Defence Medal 1940–1945 St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch, twice Military Medal (United Kingdom) Haakon VII's 70-Medal

Selected works

(2 volumes; jointly with Erling Jensen and Per Ratvik) , novel , novel (2 volumes)

(3 volumes)

(3 volumes)