m***@aol.com
2004-12-16 19:28:20 UTC
Monday, December 13, 2004
AMY MARTINEZ STARKE
Adventurous, fearless, intensely patriotic, and bitter over the 1940
loss of one-tenth of Finnish land to the Soviets -- including the farm
where he was born -- the young soldier was up for anything.
During the Cold War, he was recruited by the Office of Strategic
Services, which became the CIA, to make clandestine reconnaissance
trips from Finland into the Soviet Union, at $2,000 per trip, armed
with a poison pill in case he was captured.
Arvo Juvonen knew the countryside. He had been a highly decorated
soldier in Finland during the Winter War of 1939-40. Later, as a
long-distance scout, on foot, and once by balloon, he photographed and
gathered information about military installations in Murmansk and
elsewhere. He officially worked for the forest service, and food and
radio batteries were dropped from airplanes for him.
He had many close calls. He was chased on cross-country skis. He was
shot at, but a backpack deflected the bullet.
"There was no time to be afraid," he said. "Not for a fraction of a
second."
He also helped blow up at least two trains filled with Russian
soldiers. The attack was not authorized by the CIA, which immediately
moved him out of Finland under cover of darkness and with no passport.
He ended up in the United States with his wife and three sons, and a
new home where he could no longer live the life of a hero.
He bounced from Washington, D.C., to Boston to Minnesota to Seattle
working off and on as a carpenter, and spent the last 24 years of his
life in Lake Oswego and Gladstone, fighting alcohol problems.
He died Nov. 28, 2004, at 88 of heart failure and will be buried after
the ground thaws in Finland.
He and his seven siblings were born in a sauna.
When the 100-day Winter War broke out in 1939, he and his family were
among the 400,000 displaced, and Arvo became a scout. In 1941, he
barely made it to his wedding with Maija Hankanen because he was on a
secret mission. It was not a good life, being a wife of a spy.
In the mid-1950s, the CIA arranged their move to the United States. He
continued to have close calls: accidents in Minnesota and Florida, a
house fire in Massachusetts, a car accident in Seattle that caused a
brain injury, costing him most of his English skills. The middle of
their three sons was killed in 1963 in an accident. Nothing was ever
the same after that. He and Maija divorced but remarried.
Arvo wrote three books published in Finnish, including "Over the Iron
Curtain." Norwegian TV did a documentary about him. The BBC would have
done one, but Arvo wanted more money than it was willing to pay.
He smoked his own fish, caught from the Clackamas River. While fishing,
he would carve a bird out of the roots of a shrub. He attended a
Finnish-language church. He followed the news of other displaced Finns.
He treasured his medals and continued to think of himself as a soldier.
A red light at an intersection would remind him of the Soviets, the
enemy.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he felt a sense of ease about
possible recrimination. In 1991, he was able to return to Finland. He
met other scouts. He saw himself pictured on the front page of Finnish
newspapers and was treated like a lord -- a hero and Finland's most
famous spy.
Amy Martinez Starke: 503-221-8534; ***@news.oregonian.com
AMY MARTINEZ STARKE
Adventurous, fearless, intensely patriotic, and bitter over the 1940
loss of one-tenth of Finnish land to the Soviets -- including the farm
where he was born -- the young soldier was up for anything.
During the Cold War, he was recruited by the Office of Strategic
Services, which became the CIA, to make clandestine reconnaissance
trips from Finland into the Soviet Union, at $2,000 per trip, armed
with a poison pill in case he was captured.
Arvo Juvonen knew the countryside. He had been a highly decorated
soldier in Finland during the Winter War of 1939-40. Later, as a
long-distance scout, on foot, and once by balloon, he photographed and
gathered information about military installations in Murmansk and
elsewhere. He officially worked for the forest service, and food and
radio batteries were dropped from airplanes for him.
He had many close calls. He was chased on cross-country skis. He was
shot at, but a backpack deflected the bullet.
"There was no time to be afraid," he said. "Not for a fraction of a
second."
He also helped blow up at least two trains filled with Russian
soldiers. The attack was not authorized by the CIA, which immediately
moved him out of Finland under cover of darkness and with no passport.
He ended up in the United States with his wife and three sons, and a
new home where he could no longer live the life of a hero.
He bounced from Washington, D.C., to Boston to Minnesota to Seattle
working off and on as a carpenter, and spent the last 24 years of his
life in Lake Oswego and Gladstone, fighting alcohol problems.
He died Nov. 28, 2004, at 88 of heart failure and will be buried after
the ground thaws in Finland.
He and his seven siblings were born in a sauna.
When the 100-day Winter War broke out in 1939, he and his family were
among the 400,000 displaced, and Arvo became a scout. In 1941, he
barely made it to his wedding with Maija Hankanen because he was on a
secret mission. It was not a good life, being a wife of a spy.
In the mid-1950s, the CIA arranged their move to the United States. He
continued to have close calls: accidents in Minnesota and Florida, a
house fire in Massachusetts, a car accident in Seattle that caused a
brain injury, costing him most of his English skills. The middle of
their three sons was killed in 1963 in an accident. Nothing was ever
the same after that. He and Maija divorced but remarried.
Arvo wrote three books published in Finnish, including "Over the Iron
Curtain." Norwegian TV did a documentary about him. The BBC would have
done one, but Arvo wanted more money than it was willing to pay.
He smoked his own fish, caught from the Clackamas River. While fishing,
he would carve a bird out of the roots of a shrub. He attended a
Finnish-language church. He followed the news of other displaced Finns.
He treasured his medals and continued to think of himself as a soldier.
A red light at an intersection would remind him of the Soviets, the
enemy.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he felt a sense of ease about
possible recrimination. In 1991, he was able to return to Finland. He
met other scouts. He saw himself pictured on the front page of Finnish
newspapers and was treated like a lord -- a hero and Finland's most
famous spy.
Amy Martinez Starke: 503-221-8534; ***@news.oregonian.com