We drove to the next village about ten miles away. When we came to the village, our driver said he wanted to stop at the tavern which was located at the entrance to the village. He went in while we waited in the sleigh. When he came out a soldier followed him onto the porch. He looked at us suspiciously and then asked the peasant where we were coming from. The peasant named a village to the east. The soldier then suddenly said: "Why your horse is turned the wrong way, wait a minute," and he stepped back into the tavern.
Our driver whipped up his horse and we went down the road as fast as we could. Looking back we saw several soldiers run out on the porch. One of them lifted his rifle and a shot came over us, but we were well on our way. They had no horses available to follow us so did not pursue and we got away. After a ride of some two miles, we turned sharply to the left and down a narrow lane into the woods. Here the peasant stopped and said the border was only about two miles away and that he would lead us for so much. We agreed. He hid his sleigh and horse in an empty barn and we started out. Soon the lane ended and we were in thick woods. The snow was waste deep and with the fallen logs, the going was extremely difficult. We had to haul the women over the logs and pull them out of the deep snow. Both the women and especially Nelka who was ill, were completely exhausted. It was a painful procession. Finally we came to a clearing in the woods and the peasant turning around, said very calmly, "This is Finland." A very strange feeling of elation and apprehension and a strange feeling of leaving in such a manner one's native land.
We were now not at all sure what kind of Finns we would encounter, but soon we saw two Finnish soldiers and much to my relief I recognized them as being White Finns. They stopped us and then took us to the village to their officer. A young lieutenant was sitting at a table in a small hut. We reported to him and when I mentioned that I was an officer and named my regiment, he rose and saluted. The Finns were very decent and helpful in every way. Despite their own difficulties, they extended help to the numerous refugees coming over, established receiving camps and medical units for the sick. We were taken by sleigh to Terrioky. Nelka as having temperature was taken to the hospital and I to the camp. As soon as possible we communicated with our friends the Wredes in Helsingfors and they immediately took steps to get us out of camp and into their own home. So in a few days we were on our way to Helsingfors where we received the warmest hospitality from the Wredes and remained with them for about six weeks.
We then proceeded by way of Stockholm and Oslo to the United States sailing on the Stavangerfiord for New York early in February of 1919.
Upon our arrival in America we went to Washington where we stayed with Nelka's Aunt and Uncle. Later in the spring we went to Cazenovia to the little house which Nelka's Aunt Susie had left her and spent finally a restful and quiet summer, which was our honeymoon time. We were also regaining our health, which had suffered from the starvation period. Nelka put on some forty pounds and I came back to normal after having been bloated from hunger, like some starved Hindu child.
However, we soon felt that this easy and restful life was not right morally. The Bolsheviks were still in power, wrecking Russia and a civil war was raging between the Bolsheviks and the White Russians: We decided that it was our duty to go back and help. So I went to Washington and offered my services at the Russian mission to join one of the volunteer armies. We first planned to go to Siberia but then decided we would join the army of General Denikin in the South of Russia, and I was given an assignment there.
Before sailing for Europe we went to New Orleans to visit Nelka's cousin and then sailed from there for Liverpool, and then to London and Paris. Once in Paris we were advised that things were not going well in the south with the army of General Denikin and that we better wait before going on. So we stayed in France and I joined the French airplane factory of Louis Breguet near Paris where I worked for about 8 months. Then things got better in the Southern Army and we once again decided to go on to the Army reorganized now by General Wrangel.
Just at that time the Breguet factory received an order for night bombers for the Russian Army and it was arranged that I escort that shipment to the Crimea. So once again I put on the uniform of a Russian lieutenant, Nelka put on the uniform of a Russian Red Cross nurse and we set out.
The planes were boxed and sent to Marseilles where they were loaded on a French freighter, the Saint Basil, and we left for Constantinople. As the planes were bulky but light, the boat was light and high in the water. Because of that the propeller was but halfway in the water and our progress was very slow. It took us 17 days to get to Constantinople. Hardly had we dropped anchor in the Bosphorus as a launch drew up and a French officer came aboard and asked who was in charge of the shipment. He informed me that we could not proceed any further because news had just been received that the Army of General Wrangel had started the evacuation of the Crimea.
So we had to go ashore. The planes, having come from France, were unloaded and left with the French Army of occupation. So, came to an end our trip and our efforts to join the White Russian Army. We landed in Constantinople and in the next few days the evacuated Army of Wrangel started to arrive. Over 140,000 people arrived including the remnants of the army and between 6 and 7 thousand wounded. The plight of these people was terrible. While the wounded were landed and taken care of by the American and British Red Cross, most of the rest were not allowed ashore and were kept on board the ships in the harbour. One boat had 12,000 people aboard.