I took part in Grand FinnFest last summer and it was a blast. Worked with displays and as a speaker. It is a good way for the collector to give back to the public. Glad to see you took part. Any more photos?
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Brent "Tuco" Snodgrass donated his 120mm Tampella made Finnish mortar for use in the outside display. These large caliber mortars are rarely seen outside of finland and very few were ever made. The Kevos4 Re-enactment group manned the bunker and fielded question about the group and some history. Mr. Snodgrass gave a detailed 15 minute speech and answer session each day at 3:00 Pm regarding the large Soviet offensive of 1944 and the Finnish defensive positions and response. The speech detailed Finnish positions at the time on the isthmus and the aspects of the Soviet attack and heroic defense of the Finnish Army at the "VT" line. The mortar bunker was built to resemble an actual position of the time. Despite the groups best efforts and Mr. Snodgrass' personal assurance that he would fill in the hole, the bunker was not allowed to be dug into the ground as it would have appeared during the war. The pit would have been ground level with the logs as a reinforcing wall in the pit.
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Tero Tuononen brought his lovingly restored m/29 Finnish army field kitchen to the event. Authentic Finnish Army pea soup was served out of it by a Finnish veteran now residing in Florida. Mr. Snodgrass personally ate 15 bowels of it so he could talk to the lovely Anna who was serving the soup. The field kitchen is a model of 1929 which was serial number 34 indicating its production in early 1936. It served throughout the wars and was purchased at auction from the Finnish Army in 2003. It was painstakingly restored and reworked to be propane fueled instead of wood for the event.
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Located in the PEIF building the War display was held in the basketball training room. With over 50 8' tables it took up the entire arena and was over 8,400 sq ft in size. 24 different mannequins were presented with full gear and 5 other uniforms presented on table top. Over 70 weapons were displayed featuring early, standard and late production variants of each rifle model used in the Finnish armed forces from 1919 to 1945. Heavy equipment was also presented with Maxim models 09, 09/21 and 32/33 in an AA role displayed. The feared Lahti model 39 AT gun was also shown along with other small arms from the Kp-31smg to the sniper rifles of the period. Tero Tuononen and I (Vic Thomas) provided the war exhibit as a team.
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Helmets of the Finnish Army. These were some of the most common helmets plus a captured Russian m/36 used in rear area duty. The two front left helmets are Brent Snodgrass's and are of historical significance being known owners and units they served. For more info on Tuco's rare helmets see the helmet section at
http://www.mosinnagant.net under the Finnish section.
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No museum just a collector
