Basic Project Outline

The Plan:

Marshall Kregel of the KevOs4 History Group initiated this idea 2 years ago while helping assemble a militaria display at the 2005 Finn GrandFest in Marquette, Michigan. There, he met many veterans who approached the display and told some great stories! But, alas, he did not anticipate these opportunities and did not have cameras or audio devices available to capture these stories! He came back from Marquette and decided to initiate a program nationwide to meet with these veterans and get their stories.

The plan is to interview, on film or audio tape, 100+ Finnish veterans of the wars 1939-1945.  This would include Lottas and children of the war.  Then the text of the interviews will be used to create a book that will tell these veteran’s stories.  Where possible, the effort will be to get pictures of the veterans, both today, and as they were during the war, to put into the book.  There may be a possibility of using some of the veterans interviews in a dvd but this part of the project is still under consideration.

Marshall recently interviewed 10 veterans and Lottas in Lake Worth, Florida.  Recently, we received 21 interviews that were completed several years ago. With interviews taking place in Washington, Michigan, and Canada, we will soon have over 50 completed.

The Project: 

The format of the book will be pages of background text about the war along with pictures and maps interspersed amongst the veteran interviews. There will be chapters (in the book) pertaining to Prewar experiences, Home Front, Winter War, Continuation War, Lapland War, and Post war. Mr. Kregel contacted some Finnish historians and asked them to write the war background text for the book. To date, (June 2007), the background text has been completed and delivered to Mr. Kregel by the Finnish historian Jan-Christian Lupander. Most of the pictures for the book have been purchased and are ready for the publication. It is also hoped that some of the veterans will have personal photos that can be scanned and put into the book and this will be determined during the interview process. Some interviews of Finnish veterans are taking place now and the first tapes have arrived in Dallas for transcription.

The Process:

Each Finnish organization appoints 1 person to be the contact / interviewer for veterans living in the area.  If possible, translation from Finnish to English should accompany the interview tapes. This can be done after the interview is over. The translation can be done on paper or by audio file.

If translation from Finnish to English not possible, then forward the tapes to Dallas and we will do the translation here.  This will be a massive project. Consider that we do 100 interviews, lasting an average of 1 - 2 hours each. Then, we will have 200 hours of tape to translate into English and edit. Wow.

It will be up to the individual organizations across the country to help locate and talk to veterans living in their communities.  Group efforts are good. It is near impossible for 1 camera person to travel around the country and do the interviews. That is why it is so important to get volunteers to help with this project.

The best format for us to use is mini DV either on small tapes or on the mini DV discs.  Some people have professional cameras or resources but those aren’t necessarily needed.

Place the camera on a tripod, use the lights, and focus on the subject from 6-8 feet away.  Allow the subject to be seated. A background (solid wall, or curtains) would be great. The interviewer should sit outside the camera view.  In previous experience, the subject may be nervous in the beginning, but after awhile, tends to forget the camera and “opens up” to the questions.

The Interview:

We are looking for 1 - 2 hour interviews. Some of these veterans can speak for many hours on the subjects, and their information is important.  Please record everything that you can. But, please use the following guidelines and let the veteran choose a subject(s) for discussion:

1. First…We need their name and age, date and place of birth

2. Where and with whom did they serve? (Important names, Divisions, and Locations, i.e. Summa or Viipuri, or Helsinki, etc.)

3. Pre-war Activity. What was the veteran doing before the Winter War or Continuation War broke out?

4. Where did they serve and for how long?

5. What were their most vivid memories of the war?

6. What did they do immediately after the war?

7. How did their family fare during the war?

We are looking for stories that tell about life in Wartime Finland, both on the battlefields and on the home front.  There are also stories from people who grew up during wartime Finland who can tell about being evacuated to Sweden, or serving in the factories, or watching for Russian airplanes on top of towers.  To get a good idea of questions to ask, and the format to use, visit the U.S. Veterans Interviews Project at: http://www.loc.gov/vets/kit.html.

What happens next?

We plan to publish the book through an online “on demand” publisher like that found at www.lulu.com . A few of the interviews, and a few of the videos, will be published here on www.FinnishWarrior.com . After we get the text off the tapes, the video tapes of all the interviews will be forwarded to Col. (ret) Harry Manner who is the curator of the museum at the Finland House in Lake Worth, Florida.  His email address is: hmanner@juno.com .  He has agreed to maintain the tapes and secure them and make them available for future reference!

Estimated completion time for the book is Spring, 2008.  But, to meet this deadline, we must get the interviews together as quickly as possible so that we can edit them and get them translated if the veteran speaks only Finnish.

The books will be made available to all Finnish Societies across the country for distribution and sale to members. We will keep the costs as low as possible.

Contact Person:

Marshall Kregel, of www.kevos4.com, is the first contact person. His email address is mkregel1@tx.rr.com or webmaster@FinnishWarrior.com.   There are quite a few people nationwide who have emailed Marshall and volunteered to assist in this program. Their email addresses and contact information will be forthcoming in future notes.

Address to send tapes:

Marshall Kregel

Finnish Veteran Interviews

305 Spring Creek Village, #545

Dallas, Texas 75248

Please put the veteran’s entire name on each tape using a magic marker.  Also, put the date of interview as well as the interviewer’s name. You may need to attach the tape to a 3x5 card with the information on the card. 

If the veteran or family of the veteran have any pictures to share, please send those along with an address to where they may be returned. Or, the pictures can be scanned in High Resolution for use in the book.  Any photos donated by the families (or without return addresses) will be turned over to Col. Harry Manner at the Finland House museum for permanent display. A release form must accompany the pictures. It can be very simple: “I hearby release these photos for use in the Finnish Veteran’s Interview Project and on the promotional websites”. Signed….

A “Release” form is necessary for each veteran to sign before or after the interview. Copies of this release form can be requested from Marshall Kregel or Click on this link to see the Veteran Release Form.

Please contact Marshall if you are volunteering, or have potential interviews. He will be keeping a “map” of all contacts so that we can coordinate our efforts on getting the interviews.