National military funeral with full honours to be held in Lappeenranta on 18 May

On Commemoration Day of Fallen Soldiers on Sunday 18 May, a national military funeral with full honours will be held in Lappeenranta for 26 unidentified Finnish soldiers recovered from former battle sites in Russia. The event will be arranged in co-operation by the Finnish Defence Forces, City of Lappeenranta, Evangelical Lutheran Parishes’ Union in Lappeenranta, and Association for Commemoration of the Fallen.

The programme for the day will include a Lutheran memorial service at Evangelical Lutheran Lappee Church of St Mary, and at other churches in the area, as well as the ceremony of committal, interment, and wreath laying at Lappeenranta Memorial Cemetery for the Fallen. All are welcome to follow the event and commemorate the fallen soldiers.

A live stream of the memorial service at Lappee Church of St Mary may be watched on the Lappee Parish Youtube channel available at youtube.com/lappeenseurakunta, and the ceremony of committal and interment will be broadcast live on YLE Areena.

Programme:

• At 10:00, the memorial service at Lappee Church of St Mary, and at the churches of Joutseno, Nuijamaa, and Ylämaa. At 09:45, the massed standards will convene in front of Lappee Church for entrance at 09:55.
• At around 11:00, following the memorial service, the ceremony of committal, interment, and wreath laying at Lappeenranta Memorial Cemetery for the Fallen. 
• Wreath-laying fire teams will depart for the Monument for the Fallen of the Winter War and Continuation War, Statue of Mother Karelia, Monument for the Fallen Repatriated from Karelia, Monument for the Fallen of the War for Freedom, and Grave of the Fallen for their Conviction in 1918.
• The ceremony completed, wreath laying at the Monument for War Orphans on Kauppakatu Street relating to the 80th anniversary of the Association of the Bereaved of the Fallen.
• At 12:30–13:30, in front of Lappeenranta City Hall, coffee will be served for the first 500 by City of Lappeenranta. The event is free of charge.

The memorial service will be officiated by Parish Vicar Mika Lehtola, and Diocese Bishop Mari Parkkinen. The sermon will be delivered by Field Bishop, Chaplain General Pekka Asikainen. The music will be by Parish Cantor Riina Tölli, the Choir of Karjalan Laulu-Veikot, and the Dragoon Band.

The ceremony of committal and interment at Lappeenranta Memorial Cemetery for the Fallen will be officiated by Field Bishop, Chaplain General Pekka Asikainen, assisted by Army Academy Military Chaplain Jani Mäkitalo, and Military Chaplain Juuso Sikiö. The assisting clergy will also include Parish Vicar Mika Lehtola, and Campus Chaplain Miika Kähkönen. On behalf of the official state authority, Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Jussi Halla-aho will pay tribute to the Fallen.

In the Finnish Defence Forces, the arrangements for the event are the responsibility of the Army Academy. The representatives of the Finnish Defence Forces to the event will be ACOS J1, Brigadier General Vesa Valtonen from the Defence Command, and Commandant, Colonel Janne Mäkitalo from the Army Academy. The Dragoon Band will play ceremonial music at the church and at the cemetery.

Since 1992, from former battle sites have been repatriated altogether c. 1,600 fallen soldiers, of whom 440 have been identified and interred at Memorial Cemeteries for the Fallen of their respective home domicile congregations. So far, of the unidentified fallen soldiers, altogether 897 have been interred at 14 ceremonies of committal and interment in Lappeenranta. In 2023, altogether 48 unidentified fallen soldiers were interred at Lappeenranta Memorial Cemetery for the Fallen. On 18 May 2025, altogether 26 fallen soldiers will be interred in 24 coffins. In Lappeenranta, the most recent ceremony of committal and interment for a fallen soldier was officiated on 30.11.2024 when Private Esko Matias Kiviranta who fell at Karisalmi in 1944 was interred at Lappeenranta Memorial Cemetery for the Fallen.