Aimo Allan Koivunen (), (17 October 1917 – 12 August 1989) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

soldier in the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

and the first documented case of a soldier overdosing on methamphetamine during combat.

Early life

Aimo Allan Koivunen was born in

Alastaro Alastaro () is a former municipality of Finland. It was merged into the town of Loimaa on 1 January 2009. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality had a population of 2,910 ( ...

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

on 17 October 1917 to Frans Vihtori Koivunen and Aune Sofia Koivunen, they had six children, Aimo was the eldest.

Experience during the Continuation War

Koivunen was a Finnish soldier, assigned to a ski patrol on 20 April 1944, along with several other Finnish soldiers. Three days into their mission, on 18 March, the group was attacked and surrounded by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

forces, from whom they were able to escape. Koivunen became fatigued after skiing for a long distance, but could not stop. He was carrying his patrol's entire supply of army-issued

Pervitin Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ...

, or methamphetamine, a stimulant used to remain awake while on duty. He consumed the entire supply of Pervitin, and had a short burst of energy, but soon entered a state of delirium, and eventually lost consciousness. Koivunen later recalled waking up the following morning, separated from his patrol, and having no supplies. In the following days, he escaped Soviet forces once again, was injured by a land mine, and lay in a ditch for a week, waiting for help. Having skied more than 400 km (248.5 mi) he was found and admitted to a nearby hospital, where his

heart rate Heart rate (or pulse rate) is the frequency of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions (beats) of the heart per minute (bpm). The heart rate can vary according to the body's physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen and excr ...

was measured at 200 beats per minute, which is double the average human heartbeat, and weighing only 43 kg (94.8 lbs). In the week that Koivunen was gone, he subsisted only on pine buds and a single

Siberian jay The Siberian jay (''Perisoreus infaustus'') is a small jay with a widespread distribution within the coniferous forests in North Eurasia. It has grey-brown plumage with a darker brown crown and a paler throat. It is rusty-red in a panel near the ...

that he caught, and ate raw. He was found, and survived, until he died in 1989 at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koivunen, Aimo 1917 births 1989 deaths Finnish soldiers People of the Winter War Finnish military personnel of World War II Psychoactive drugs and the military Methamphetamine and health