Onni Palaste, born Onni Bovellan (27 December 1917 - 1 July 2009) was a Finnish

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

veteran and writer. Onni Bovellan was born in

Kiuruvesi Kiuruvesi is a town and municipality of Finland located in the Northern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbour municipalities are Iisalmi, Pielavesi ...

, Finland on 27 December 1917 to parents Joona Bovellan and Olga Miina Kärkkäinen. He was a frail child and was not originally expected to live long. However, he survived and became healthy. After finishing school, Bovellan went to work in a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. In the Winter War, Bovellan fought in Colonel

Hjalmar Siilasvuo Hjalmar Fridolf Siilasvuo (born Hjalmar Fridolf Strömberg, 18 March 1892 – 11 January 1947) was a Finnish lieutenant general (), a knight of the Mannerheim Cross and a member of the Jäger Movement. He participated in the Eastern Front (World ...

's troops. He led many successful patrols to

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

territory and was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

. After the Winter War, Onni Bovellan changed his surname to Palaste. He worked as director of the

Vuokatti Vuokatti is an urban area that is a physically separate part of the municipality of Sotkamo, Finland. It is home to more than 6,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populous urban area in the region of Kainuu, after the main urban area of ...

sports academy and also met his wife Kerttu Klemetti. Onni Palaste started writing factual, but slightly dramatised

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s about the Winter War in 1967. His original inspiration to writing was winning a short story competition during the war, after which his fellow soldiers suggested he try writing full-length novels. He had written about twenty war novels, the latest of which was published in 2004. He has also written a three-novel mini-series about Simo Hurtta, a Swedish tax official during the 17th-18th century

Greater Wrath The Great Wrath (, in contemporary sources: , ; ) was a period of Finnish history dominated by the Russian invasion and subsequent military occupation of Finland, then part of the Swedish Empire, from 1714 until the Treaty of Nystad (1721), ...

. Onni and Kerttu Palaste lived their elder years in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland. Onni Palaste died on 1 July 2009 at the age of 91.http://www.wsoy.fi/index.jsp?catId=1&id=1315&c=/news He and his wife Kerttu are survived by their four children.

Bibliography

* Rukajärven sissit, 1967 * Minä, desantti, 1970 * Sissi rajan takaa, 1972 * Siviilisissit Stalinin kanavalla, 1973 * Simo Hurtta, 1978 * Suomussalmen sankarit, 1979 * Talvisodan ääniä, 1980 * Irina ja Mannerheim, 1981 * Simo Hurtta ja Anna, 1982 * Simo Hurtta ja Isoviha, 1983 * Aina Hangosta Petsamoon, 1984 * Sissiretki surman suuhun, 1985 * Isät katsovat poikiaan, 1985 * Toki kallehin on vapaus, 1986 * Lapin sissi, 1988 * Viimeiseen sissiin, 1992 * Raappanan miehet, 1996 * Korpisodan sankarit, 1998 * Kaukopartio, 2003

External links

Article about Onni Palaste
(in Finnish)

References

1917 births 2009 deaths People from Kiuruvesi Writers from North Savo Finnish military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Iron Cross 20th-century Finnish novelists {{finland-writer-stub