Priit Vesilind

Priit Juho Vesilind (4 January 1943 – 3 November 2023) was an Estonian-born American senior writer and photojournalist of National Geographic magazine and an author of nonfiction.

Early life and education Vesilind was born during World War II in Tallinn, Estonia, then under German occupation as Generalbezirk Estland. His father, Paul Eduard Vesilind, was an engineer for an automobile manufacturer and his mother, Aino Vesilind (née Rebane), worked at a bank.

In 1944, when Priit was one and a half years old, Soviet Air Forces bombers struck Tallinn and the Red Army began an attack on the city as the Soviet Union sought to drive the Germans out and reestablish its own occupation of Estonia. Aino took Priit and his brother Aarne and fled by train to Czechoslovakia.

Career

After leaving the Naval Reserve, Vesilind became a reporter and editor for the Syracuse Herald Tribune, He wrote about the adventure in an October 1999 National Geographic article, "The Last Dive."

Published works

National Geographic on Assignment USA, Publisher: National Geographic Books (1997), Horse People, Publisher: Bökforlaget Max Ström, Stockholm (2003), Eestlane Igas Sadamas—An Estonian in every Port, Publisher: Varrak, Tallinn (2004), Lost Gold of the Republic: The Remarkable Quest for the Greatest Shipwreck Treasure of the Civil War Era, Publisher: Shipwreck Heritage Press (2004), Eesti Aastal 1979—Estonia in the Year 1979, Publisher: Varrak, Talllinn (2006), , The Singing Revolution, Publisher: Varrak, Tallinn (2008), When the Noise Had Ended—Geislingen's DP Children Remember, Publisher: Lakeshore Press (2009), : Co-author Mai Maddisson