Olavi Alakulppi

Who was Olavi Alakulppi?

Olavi Alakulppi was a Finnish cross country skier who competed in the 1930s. During the Russo-Finnish Continuation War, he served in the Finnish army, and was awarded the Mannerheim Cross. After the Second World War, he made a career in the United States Army.

Alakulppi won a gold medal in the 4 x 10 km cross-country relay at the 1939 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Zakopane.

Alakulppi served in the Finnish Army during the Winter and Continuation Wars. In 1942 he was awarded the Mannerheim Cross.

In 1945, in order to evade prosecution for his involvement in the Weapons Cache Case, he skied to Sweden and arranged for his wife Eevi, their son Vesa, and him to travel to the United States where he soon joined the United States Army. Vesa Juhani Alakulppi eventually followed his father into the army and was killed in action during the Vietnam War.

Alakulppi retired from the US Army in 1968 as a lieutenant-colonel. He died in 1990, and is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.

While Alakulppi served as a company commander in West Germany in the 1950s, his personal chauffeur was Elvis Presley who was carrying out his military service.