Finnish+the+War


 * Olli Copeland & Robert Jaworski [[image:soldier-lotta.jpg width="260" height="407" align="right" caption="Juho Heiskanen with his girlfriend in Southern Finland"]]**

Juho Heiskanen (January 15th 1915-) was a Finnish infantry soldier in World War II. He was 24 years old when the Soviet Union attacked Finnish Karelia, where his parents were born. He had completed his mandatory military service at 18 and was ready to fight for his country. He was a corporal for ski troop FI-3 (codename Urho). He was a respected and brave soldier who survived the Winter War but got shot in the Continuation War. His girlfriend, Anna Jaakonpoika, was a part of the Finnish Lotta Svard movement, which helped wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

Heiskanen's troops were like a brotherhood and they lived in the bunkers for almost a year. Heavily outnumbered, they held the Sovier troops from the southeast back for six months.

After his death he was recognized as a Finnish war hero. He was awarded a Mannerheim Cross, the highest military decoration in Finland.