Kalervo Kurkiala, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Kalervo Kurkiala

pastor

Date of Birth: 16-Nov-1894

Place of Birth: Längelmäki, Finland

Date of Death: 26-Dec-1966

Profession: priest, military personnel

Nationality: Finland

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Kalervo Kurkiala (born Kalervo Groundstroem, 16 November 1894 – 26 December 1966) was a Finnish soldier who later became a pastor. During World War I he served as a volunteer in the German light infantry, his first engagement being on the Misa River in Latvia on the eastern front in 1916. He was a battalion commander in the White Army during the Finnish Civil War, which broke out in 1918. After being ordained in 1919, for a while he was an army chaplain before assuming civilian duties as a pastor and teacher.
For several years he served with the Seamen's mission in Australia. During World War II, in 1941 Kurkiala volunteered as chaplain to the Finnish volunteer brigade in the Waffen-SS. After the war, for many years he was a pastor in Sweden.