Aimo Koivunen
Suggested Listening: Don’t Do Drugs – Easy Mac, John Nonny
Aimo Allan Koivunen was born on October 17, 1917, the eldest of six children in Finland. He grew up to become a soldier, and not much information is available about his early life. That’s okay though, because his story is so crazy, we can just jump right in.
Aimo was a Finnish Corporal during a very unfortunate time in history. During World War II, the Soviet Union went after Finland in hopes of taking it quickly and moving on, but the Finnish people were not having it. The Finns fought them off for years, and the fight ended up costing the Soviets more lives and money than it was worth. Finland is awesome. Today, Finland will give you a top hat and sword when you get a PhD in their country, so they are just badass people all around.
So, on March 18, 1944, Aimo and his unit had awoken to their third day of patrol and -15° C weather. Aimo was known to be an upstanding young man who did not like the idea of taking pills, so he was carrying the group’s supply of Pervitin. Now, Pervitin is a drug that was developed to boost energy and confidence while reduce fear in soldiers during combat. It is most well known today by the name Crystal Meth.
Around 10 am the group had stopped to make a small fire to prepare tea and warm themselves when the heard gunfire approaching. They realized the Soviets were attempting to surround them and the group hurried to escape. Aimo himself was attempting to lead the retreat while also returning fire to fend off the enemy. Being in the lead, he had to cut a path for the others in the knee-deep snow, exhausting him to the point that he began to shake. When one of his fellow soldiers yelled, “Aimo, don’t sleep!” he realized he had no other choice. He and his men would die if he couldn’t continue.
Aimo reached in his pack and pulled out the unit’s supply of Pervitin. With his thick winter gloves and the chaos of the situation he was unable to get just one pill out. So, with no time to think and in a panic, Aimo popped the entire unit’s supply in his mouth.
30 doses. 30 methamphetamine pills.
For a few brief moments he felt amazing and was able to push a path in the snow to save his comrades. Then, as he got farther and father away, his last thought before blacking out was: “That, perhaps, was a mistake.”
He regained awareness 62 miles away, alone with no food and no ammunition. But then he saw his comrades (or he thought he did) on a hill in the distance! He skied up to them and had a lively, imaginary argument about his whereabouts and which direction he should go. He ultimately won his argument with himself and skied off victoriously.
That evening (or the next maybe. Time was not with Aimo on this journey) he saw fires in the distance and believed he had found a Finnish camp. Although this was not a hallucination, neither was it a Finnish camp. As he approached, gaining speed on his skis, he realized two things at the same time:
1. This was a Soviet camp.
2. He was going way to fast to stop now.
Fortunately, the Soviets were so surprised, that one soldier who was sitting on the ground even pulled his legs out of Aimo’s way as he flew straight threw the camp and out the other side. It took them several moments to scramble a group together to go after him, but they were no match for Aimo! He skied for the next 24 hours straight to make sure he had gotten rid of them.
Aimo was starting to get a little hungry, but with no food in his pack he just munched on some pinecones. He took off his skis for a bit so he could walk and that was when he stepped on a German land mine.
When he landed, he found bones sticking out of his left foot in different directions and the muscles “looked like they had been grated” according to his memoirs.
He saw an abandoned shack 300 feet away, so he began to crawl towards it, dragging his left foot behind him. When he got to the shack, he opened the door and the shack exploded, as it had been rigged by the Germans before being abandoned. He was thrown 100 feet, landing with the doorknob still in his right hand. The back of his pants were gone. He was starting to think this was the end when a Siberian jay landed next to him. He beat it to death with his ski pole and ate it raw.
Aimo was found in the snow by a Finnish patrol on March 31st. They asked him how long he had been there and when he said, “a week…?” they believed him to be out of his mind. Which he was, but he had also been missing for exactly 14 days alone without food in subzero temperatures.
He arrived at the hospital at 2 am on April 1, 1944, almost 15 days after ingesting 30 methamphetamine pills. His heart rate was still 200 BPM. He weighed 94 pounds.
Aimo recovered and lived until he was 71 years old. So as I said earlier, Finnish people are badass. But kids, don’t do drugs. You will end up in the Arctic Circle with half a foot eating a raw bird, and nobody wants that.
References
Carlton, G. (2022). “Meet Aimo Koivunen, the soldier who survived WWII thanks to accidentally overdosing on meth.” Retrieved from https://allthatsinteresting.com/aimo-koivunen
Dillon, L. (2022). “Aimo Koivunen: Finland’s drug-fueled super soldier”. Retrieved from https://www.historicmysteries.com/aimo-koivunen/
ErkkiKekko. (2019, October 9). Translation of the story of Aimo Koivunen [Reddit]. Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/warstories/comments/dfhwjm/translation_of_the_story_of_aimo_koivunen_a/
Felton, G. (2021). “The Finnish soldier who took his entire troop’s methamphetamine supply while skiing away from the Russians.” Retrieved from https://www.iflscience.com/the-finnish-soldier-who-took-his-entire-troops-methamphetamine-supply-while-skiing-away-from-the-russians-59459