Kalervo Virtanen in Atlantic convoys, in internment camps and in the US Navy

Virtanen's marine career started on SS Otava in 1937. From the spring of 1938 to the summer of 1939, Virtanen again worked in a water-bus in Helsinki and in Riihimäki glass factory. In July 1939, he signed on SS Hammarland. The ship was in the Baltic Sea, carrying timber to Holland in the early hours of 1.9.1939, when the crew heard a strange rumble, like thunder. The telegraph operator told them that Germany had attacked Poland and the war had broken out.

In sight of submarines on the Atlantic

The Hammarland sailed next to Philadelphia, USA. The ship took in water seriously, when its side boards rusted through. The leak was hastily stopped with sacking. When they arrived, the entire crew decided to leave the ship, as they considered the Hammarland to be in dangerously poor shape. Virtanen found work on a farm in the USA, but he did not enjoy it, so he went to sea again in the spring of 1940. He was signed as engine operator on the Peeter, sailing under the Estonian flag. Her international crew included other Finns as well. The destination was to be Belgium; like the USA, Belgium had managed to keep out of the war.

On the Atlantic, the crew heard that the Soviet Union had occupied Estonia. They hurriedly replaced the Estonian flag with the Panamanian one. The name was changed too: the Peeter became the Kathrine. They heard that she was heading to England, not Belgium. One night, the Shipmaster announced that they were followed by a German submarine. He ordered the crew to the life boat deck. As it turned out, they were not followed by a submarine, but by a shoal of porpoise!

The Kathrine arrived safely at London, where shortage of food was great. The British authorities confiscated the ship and its cargo of American food preserves. Virtanen signed on a Norwegian oil tanker that had been hit by a torpedo on the Atlantic and was under repair. He later worked on British ships that carried food and war supplies between Great Britain and North America. This was very dangerous work: many ships fell prey to German submarines and men-of-war.

Interned and to sea again

His work ended suddenly, when the United Kingdom declared war on Finland on 6.12.1941. Kalervo Virtanen was in England, waiting to be signed, but now he and other Finns were taken to the Manx internment camp as enemy citizens. The conditions in the camp were dismal. It was very cold in the inns that accommodated them. Virtanen had learnt to construct various gadgets in ships’ engine rooms, and he came up with the idea of making electric heaters from lift parts he had stolen. Virtanen did have one positive memory from the Isle of Man: an internee dentist filled a cavity in his tooth so well that the filling lasted for 60 years.

Virtanen was released from the camp in August 1942, when he accepted a job in the British merchant fleet where he had served earlier, too. He said that Finns were also recruited in the British armed forces. Interned seafarers were not allowed to travel to Finland, although many of them wanted to. Virtanen could have signed on a Swedish ship. The authorities did not allow this, but placed him on a ship under the British flag. Afterwards, rather sarcastically, Virtanen stated that they made a mistake. He “escaped Britain”, while the Swedish ship operated just off the British coast.

Virtanen did not appreciate the authorities and politicians in the United Kingdom. It was a bitter memory for him that his former shipmates died of hunger and thirst in a lifeboat that lacked the necessary supplies, although these very men had brought a large food cargo from the USA to England.

At the end of 1942, Virtanen was placed in a ship bound for Murmansk in the Soviet Union. He knew that being Finnish he could not go there, so he left the ship without permission. There were no consequences. Virtanen’s nationality was erroneously ‘Estonian’ in his Alien’s Order – either by mistake or on purpose. Perhaps the British thought that they could send an Estonian to the Soviet Union, but not a Finn.

To the Pacific as a US naval seaman

Virtanen signed as stoker in a brand new ship built in Vancouver, Canada. While sailing to England, he hurt his back badly. The shipmaster suspected intentional sabotage and threatened him with court martial. Defying the shipmaster, Virtanen left the ship when they were in New York. His decision was probably partly due to his eldest brother having moved to the USA before the war; he lived in Schenectady, New York.

Virtanen’s back was treated in New York and he managed to get a work licence in the USA. He became his brother’s colleague in roofing work in Schenectady. In a while, Virtanen said he received “a letter from President Roosevelt” inviting him to join the armed forces, after which he would be granted US citizenship. Virtanen accepted the invitation and wanted to join the Navy. He was placed in the Navy construction battalion called “Seabees”. The tasks included construction of new bases, including airfields. Two other Finns served in the battalion.

The training started in the autumn of 1943. In the spring of 1944, the unit moved to the Pacific front, first to the Philippines. Virtanen still suffered from back trouble, but being a qualified engine operator, he could operate the steam engines necessary in construction work. He proved highly skilful, and he made improvements in the equipment. He was promoted to petty officer, which required passing an exam in engineering. It so happened that no one was available to receive the exam. In the end, Virtanen himself made the questions for his exam!

Below: A Seabees construction site at an unknown location on the Pacific front. Kimmo Virtanen's collection.