Kaarlo Hillilä

Kaarlo Henrik Hillilä (27 May 1902

Hillilä took part in the battle of Oulu as a student during the Finnish Civil War with his classmate Aaro Pakaslahti in February 1918. He then went on to participate in a number of battles in the Satakunta region and in what is now the far western part of Pirkanmaa. After the civil war ended, he and his younger brother volunteered in the Estonian War of Independence as part of the Pohjan Pojat unit beginning in early 1919. They took part in the taking of Valga in southern Estonia and were then ordered to attack Marienburg (now Alūksne) on the Latvian side of the border. Caught by surprise on a reconnaissance mission, Hillilä was shot through the leg and his 15-year-old brother was killed.