I am always surprised when I find a new signature of an Olympian who was killed in war. I have run across a fair number of them. There are also more than a few I doubt I well ever see. This one was a pickup in early January.
Martti Uosikkinen competed in gymnastics for Finland at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics. He won bronze medals in the team competition in 1932 and 1936. He was killed in the Battle of Kollaa on March 9, 1940, 4 days before the end of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War.
Uosikkinen.JPG
It is a photo about 3½ x 5. The inscription is Finlande, Kuopio his home town. I found it in Egypt of all places. I watched it for a few weeks hoping they would drop the price. They never did so I grabbed it. A friend in Switzerland who is a very advanced Olympic collector commented that he would have expected to find wrestlers or weightlifters as they were national sports heroes in Egypt back then, but a Finnish gymnast? Who knows what else you will find out there in the world.