Letter to a Veteran: On Finnish Independence Day
Letter from the first fallen Finnish soldier during The Winter War to the veterans.
Moi!
Well, if you are reading this, it must be 83 years since I lost my life. Olen Kalle Matias Rajala, I am given the title of the First Hero of The Winter War as well, … because … you know, I was first one, the first Finn who gave his life for the country at the Russo-Finnish border. I am thankful that you survived the war. Thank you for your service.
Why do I feel like writing this year to my fellow comrades? I don’t know… Maybe because during my final days, I was thinking about the same Russian-Finnish conflicts, as you might be right now.
Since the war, all of us who lost their lives, have been getting together on my birthday in August, at the same Inari Border Post, to honor the war heroes. We talk about Russians who were killed, Russians who “tried” to kill us… The ones who were injured… We share some stories of holding off the Russian attacks, and how Russians had to suffer and got frost bites. And yes, there are many of us who bragged about “how difficult it was to kill me”. Trust me! It’s impossible to shut up a Finn in the afterlife.
Anyways, Thanks to Nokia, I manage to change the topic. Every now and then someone from our platoon joins us and gives us details about the newest Nokia model. To be honest, we still have some wild fans of Nokia 3310. They just can’t stop talking about “long battery life”.
In the last two years, we were joined by many comrades in the afterlife. So this birthday, I thought to relax a bit, go to sauna, have a few beers, perform one or two songs at Karaoke and maybe try to party hard like Sanna Marin. This time… It was the second party for our Mannerheim Cross Knight Tuomas Gerdt. As he was honoured by the living, we thought to honour him as well. He gave a long … long… a very long speech. As I mentioned before, Finns talk… a… lot in afterlife.
Someone brought up the topic of the Ukrainian war, and the discussion got a bit serious. I remember the uneasiness during my last days. We got a little gloomy, and then Matti stood up and said, “I don’t believe that there will be a Third World War.”
Jussi voiced agreement saying, “When Russia loses this war in Ukraine, it will calm down… again. Don’t worry”.
We Kippis on Jussi’s “Again.” So, don’t worry, my friend. This time will pass too. Much better times are coming.
We may need you to live longer and share our hope with our kin. Also, try to collect some dirty jokes. We are running out of jokes about Swedes as well.
Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää! / Happy Independence Day!
… and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.
This writing was inspired by joint campaign by Finnish National Postal Service (Posti), and the Veterans’ Unions. In 2022, for the eighth time, Posti and the veterans’ unions organised a card campaign aimed at all citizens, where everyone could participate by sending a card to the veterans of Finnish wars.
