Winter war

When the Winter War started 30. Nov. 1939 I was about four. I have some memory when we were evacuated and on the way to the railroad, station we saw over the bay when Suojarvi Kaipaa sawmill was burning. I think the mill was owned by Aunuksen Wood Company Ltd. Women were crying and the whole atmosphere was scary. There was some snow on the ground. There were only a few men. Father was at work on the engine. From the train journey, I remember a man who had lost his control and had to be held down. We were taken on the train to western Finland to Laukaa. We got a small abandoned two-room house to live in. Water would freeze inside the house too it was so cold. It happened that the sauna we were using burned down and it was the same scary feeling again. I remember that in this same village had ended up the owner of the great Bomba house from our district. In the sauna, this big man once slipped and fell on me. In that place men and women went to sauna together. We were in Laukaa until the spring when schools were out. Then we moved again to a place by a river. There we lived in the now empty schoolhouse. At this time father also came to live with us. The next place was Killinkoski where we went during the summer. There was born our next child Risto. The whole year and a half of peacetime until fall of 1941 we stayed in that place. There I also saw my first Santa Claus. Near our place was a church where slide pictures were shown. I remember the many soldiers that were around. In Killinkoski, I tried for the first time smoking. Near the church, we had built a small shelter from branches. That caught fire and almost burned the church too. I was not to blame for this one because I was in a hospital with a sore knee. There were many men in the hospital. After I knew that, they were wounded soldiers. Father was doing woodwork, dishes etc., some for ourselves, some for sale. After the Continuation War started in June 1941, the Finns regained their lost land and advanced quite far to East Karjala. We were able to move back to our home village. I do not remember anything about the move. When we got there, we saw that there were two buildings standing. One was our sauna. That became our first home. I was sleeping under the table. Our next home was six-sided cardboard tent. It was a fine house in the summertime. Then the Russians planes started shooting all ground targets and our tent was taken down. I think that was summer of -1942. Our living got better when two rooms were added to the sauna. Father had stored some building material for a new barn before

the Winter War but that too was now burned. Father was born in 1904 and too old to go to the front. During the Continuation War, he left his job with the State Railroads and learned brick laying work. I started school during the war in Suojarvi. The war ended badly for the Finns and we lost the Karelia land again. The second time we left Suojarvi was June 23. 1944. It was the eve of midsummer Juhannus. I was eight years old and remember quite a lot about those times. When we left, all our belongings were in a four-wheeled wagon. Two cows and a young calf were tied to it and following us. The calf did not want to leave and put the brakes on. The first night we stayed at some school. They were giving away school materials and we took some too. Our journey to Viitasaari had started. At some point, we got on a train and father alone was driving the horse and wagon. We had five children now. Myself, Raili and Raija born before the war in Suojarvi, Ritva born in Suojarvi during the war and Risto born when we were in Killinkoski. We got off the train in Suolahti, Central Finland. From there we continued on a barge to Viitasaari. Loading the barge was not easy. There were people, animals and noise. Children had to be watched that they do not fall in the water. We walked onto the barge on a wooden board. In Viitasaari, we settled in Kokkola house in Karne village. Sometimes the house was on an island and sometimes we could walk to it when the water was low. The house had two rooms and in one room now lived three families. The owners lived in the other room. The two rooms were separated with about one metre space in between. In Kokkola house, we did not stay the whole summer. We moved to Puronsuu in Viitasaari. Before the winter, our parents moved to Rintamaa in Pasala village in Viitasaari. Children were taken to different places. The three older ones went to Larsmo near Pietarsaari on the west coast in the Swedish speaking area. Two-year-old Risto went to a place called Forsby also in the Swedish speaking area. Ritva was a baby and stayed with the mother. Rintamaa was an orphanage where our parents got an old sauna to live in while the new one was finished. In there father did carpentry and other work. The place was kept by the Pentecostal church. Three of us, me and two sisters were in Larsmo until the fall. Before the school started, we were moved to Salahmi village in Vierema County in north Savo province. As soon as the load of kids got off the truck, we saw a pile of drainage pipes on the ground. We all started hitting them with rocks because it made such an interesting sound. Brother Risto appeared during the winter from Forsby. He spoke Swedish now and said to me “komhar”. I had missed my brother and now he did not know anymore. me Called me Jalo. Then I started crying.