Student pastor Miika Kähkönen (second from left), military chaplain Juuso Sikiö, military chaplain Jani Mäkitalo, vicar Mika Lehtola, and field bishop Pekka Asikainen at the national military funeral in Lappeenranta on the Commemoration Day of Fallen Soldiers, 18 May 2025, for 26 unidentified Finnish soldiers found in Russia. Photo: Lauri Heino / Lehtikuva
- Next Article KAJ’s touring sauna captured in 3D as Aalto brings Finnish heritage into virtual age
The remains of 26 unidentified Finnish soldiers who died during the Winter War and Continuation War were buried with military honours in Lappeenranta on Sunday.
The ceremony took place on the Commemoration Day of Fallen Soldiers, a national remembrance occasion. The men were reinterred at the city’s war cemetery, which holds the remains of hundreds of unidentified combatants.
The remains were recovered from Russian territory between 2011 and 2022 by Russian authorities and handed over to Finland. The discovery sites included former battlegrounds on the Karelian Isthmus and in the Ladoga Karelia region.
The Finnish authorities were unable to identify the soldiers.
“We are not only saying farewell, we are welcoming them and saying: Welcome home. They are part of the miracle that allowed our nation to preserve its independence,” Parliamentary Speaker Jussi Halla-aho said during the ceremony.
The 26 soldiers were buried in white caskets. Wreaths from the state and relatives of other fallen soldiers were placed at the site.
According to the Finnish Defence Forces, a total of 897 unknown soldiers have now been buried in Lappeenranta. The city’s cemetery holds a special section dedicated to the memory of unidentified service members.
Finland lost approximately 13,000 soldiers who were either killed or went missing during the Winter War (1939–1940) and Continuation War (1941–1944). An estimated 10,000 remain unaccounted for.
Over the past three decades, search teams have recovered the remains of about 1,600 Finnish soldiers from former battlefields in Russia. Of those, 440 have been identified and reburied in local war cemeteries across Finland.
HT
- Next Article KAJ’s touring sauna captured in 3D as Aalto brings Finnish heritage into virtual age
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
