Avdy Andresson (15 November 1899 in

Viluvere Viluvere is a village in Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish, Pärnu County in western-central Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) It had a station on the Tallinn - Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, P ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

– 27 August 1990 in Deerfield,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States) was the

Estonian Minister of War The Minister of Defence (''Estonian: Kaitseminister'') is the senior minister at the Ministry of Defence (''Kaitseministeerium'') in the Estonian Government. The minister is one of the most important members of the Estonian government, with r ...

in exile from April 3, 1973, until two months before his death on June 20, 1990, and disputed from 14 October 1975.

Life

Born and raised in

, which was then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, Andresson served in the Czarist Cavalry during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During the Estonian Liberation War against Bolshevist Russia from 1918 until 1920 Andresson served in the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the

Estonian Army The Estonian Land Forces ( et, Maavägi), unofficially referred to as the Estonian Army, is the name of the unified ground forces among the Estonian Defense Forces where it has an offensive military formation role. It is currently the largest ...

and from 1920 to 1940 in the Cavalry Regiment and the Ministry of War's Horse Breeding Station as a non-commissioned officer and a veterinarian.Mart Orav and Enn Nõu.''Tõotan ustavaks jääda...Eesti Vabariigi valitsus, 1940-1992''. Väljaandja Tartu, Eesti Kirjanduse Selts, 2004 During the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

invasion and occupation of Estonia in 1940, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Andresson served in

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

division from 1940 until 1945. Following Germany's defeat Andresson fled to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

with his second wife Hilda Andresson (née Vilms). In 1960, he was elected president of the . For years, he published a monthly Estonian Freedom Fighters bulletin called ''Virgats'', and was instrumental in the construction of a granite monument in their honor on the grounds of the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

in Northville,

. From 1973 until 1990, Andresson served as the Minister of War in Exile. Andresson died in

Deerfield, New Jersey Deerfield (also known as Deerfield Street) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place within Upper Deerfield Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a populati ...

, and was interred at the Northville Estonian Lutheran Cemetery in

Cumberland County, New Jersey Cumberland County is a coastal county located on the Delaware Bay in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 154,152, making it the 16th-largest of the state's 21 counties. Its county seat is Bridg ...

. His wife Hilda died in 1995 and was interred next to him.

Acknowledgements

Order of the Cross of the Eagle The Order of the Cross of the Eagle ( et, Kotkaristi teenetemärk; french: Ordre de la Croix de l'Aigle) was instituted in 1928 by the Estonian Defence League to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Estonian independence. It was adopted as a sta ...

, Class III. 24 February 1938.

References

External links

Northville Estonian Lutheran Cemetery, Cumberland County, New JerseyThe Estonian community of Seabrook, New Jersey: From Displaced Persons Camp to Success in America
booklet.
Ancestry Message Board post
1899 births 1990 deaths People from Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish People from the Governorate of Livonia Government ministers of Estonia Imperial Russian Army personnel Estonian military personnel of World War I Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence German Army personnel of World War II Estonian emigrants to the United States Estonian World War II refugees Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class III {{Estonia-politician-stub