I bet you've never heard of.....Simo Hayha

The "White Death" who often preferred non-scoped rifles--I hope you have more confidence in our historical/military knowledge than that!
 
I was very surprised to see this (I guess everything is on the Internet these days). My cousin served with Simo in the winter war. They did everything on skis (my family are Saami - Lapp reindeer herders). My cousin visited us in 1975 and I sat for hours listening to his stories about Simo and the winter war (my dad’s first language was Finn and he translated). All the Finns were superb shots. There was another reason they didn’t use scopes - they fogged. I heard many stories that I should not repeat. One I will - my cousin and Simo used to shoot rats, skin them, and sell them as rabbits to the occupying Wehrmacht soldiers. The Finns hated the Russians.
 
The Soviets paid dearly for the parts of Finland they took. At some points, Soviet tank crews had to decide whether to freeze to death in their tanks or build a fire outside--and get shot.
 
I was very surprised to see this (I guess everything is on the Internet these days). My cousin served with Simo in the winter war. They did everything on skis (my family are Saami - Lapp reindeer herders). My cousin visited us in 1975 and I sat for hours listening to his stories about Simo and the winter war (my dad’s first language was Finn and he translated). All the Finns were superb shots. There was another reason they didn’t use scopes - they fogged. I heard many stories that I should not repeat. One I will - my cousin and Simo used to shoot rats, skin them, and sell them as rabbits to the occupying Wehrmacht soldiers. The Finns hated the Russians.

Those are the stories I would love to hear! I hope someone has recorded him telling his memories so that they are not lost.

We used to joke that I must have some trace in Inuit in my DNA because I have always had an unholy love for the cold and snow. I can camp in a 3 season tent with the temps in the teens and 6 - 8" snow on the ground quite comfortably and be outside all day teaching survival skills to kids with temps barely reaching 25 degrees. I loved skijoring with dogs and cross country skiing.

My DNA tests came back saying I have 9% Saami/ Laplander. Now I am determined to find those ancestors.
 
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