Hi Dan!
I'm very sorry I haven't answered to You message about one year ago. This is
because I didn't realize, that there is also another forum to send a message
on my pages. Well, I read Your message yesterday.
Some information about the picture. It was taken about 8 nautical miles
northest from Suursaari from our new 15,3m deepfairway leading to Kotka
port. The silhouette of the island on a clear day is always amazing, becauce
all the other islands around are very flat. Very often in the summertime we
can see forest in fire there but the Russians don't care. In fact there is
not many military persons left and none civilians. They have one radar
station on the north hill, but from the military point of view it nowadays
quite useless. So, they should give it back to Finland!!!
Couple years ago it was possible to go there with a small vessel from
Kotka, but suddenly, for no reason, the Russians stopped the trips. It was a
pity. On the other hand just now the Finnish authorities are trying to
arrange some trips there. They still have menthaly and behaviour of
communist time left.
In Kotka, where I work as sea-pilot, there is many people still alive who
lived before war in Suursaari and on the other islands belonged before to
Finland.
There is some books where one can find some nice pictures like "Suursaari
sodassa" (Suursaari during the war) and some more. The books are quite rare,
but I our library on Pilot-station there is some.
Dan, You should visit here in Finland in the summertime and try to find Your
roots. It is also now relativ cheep to fly here ( abt. 500$ here and back).
Yours
Arto Bäcklund
www.geocities.com/artobee
Dan Kari
08-Jun-2001 09:05
Thank you for your pictures of Suursaari. My ancestry is from there and this is the first time I have seen it. I would be interested in knowing how far from the island you were and in which direction when you took the photos. If you have anymore Suursaari photos to post I would enjoy seeing them.
