Killed in Action

Back in 1788, when the Finns were helping Sweden to fight the Russians, a Finnish woman named Lotta Svaerd went to war along with her husband, and, after he was killed, stayed with the Army, cooking for the soldiers and nursing the wounded. What made Lotta a two-time Molly Pitcher was the fact that in 1808, when Russia overran Finland, she volunteered again and served throughout the war.

In 1921 Finland organized a women's auxiliary corps and named it for Lotta Svaerd. Finland's tough and brawny Lottas, 100,000 strong, not only nurse and cook. In wartime they take the places of the mobilized Civic Guardists in fire and police departments. They staff the hun dreds of air and naval observation posts, keep sharp watch for raids by air and sea.

Head of the Lottas is a ruggedly hand some, grey-haired, energetic woman named Fanni Luukkonen. Long a temperance worker and schoolteacher, she has traveled widely, has interested herself in national defense, is a member of the board which assembles and publishes official Finnish documents.

Last week Finnish Commander in Chief Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim announced that three Lottas, Lissa Uurasmaa on the Arctic front, Julia Shemeikka and Julia Nerkuu on the Eastern front, had "remained faithfully at their dangerous posts and are the first Lottas to be killed in action." Said he: "In the name of the Army we pay tribute to their memory."

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