Reino Wilhelm Palmroth

Reino Palmroth was a writer, songwriter, singer, and radio journalist and also reached the rank of major as an officer. In 1928 he graduated from the cadet school and was the custodian of the War Museum from 1933-45. Beginning in 1929 he also worked as a sports reporter for a radio station. As a writer and entertainer, he used the pseudonyms Reino Hirviseppä and Palle, writing wrote poems, song lyrics, revues and the like. During World War II, he organized radio broadcasts for the armed forces and appeared in propaganda broadcasts himself.

In 1940, Palmroth was a co-founder of the association “Propaganda Brothers in Arms”, which broadcast evenings of music and entertainment from the home front for the fighting troops, following the German model. After the war, he was dismissed from both the Army and radio because of his right-wing political views, and several of his militaristic songs were banned. From 1945, Palmroth worked as a department manager at the Chymos beverage company and then as a sales manager at Suomi-Filmi, eventually founding his own film production company.

In 1975 he published his memoirs under the title Kuin vierivä virta (Like a rushing stream) and in 1983 he was awarded the title of Chamberlain. Among his works were a book about the 1924 Olympic Games and a documentary film about the 1952 Games in Helsinki. Hellaan henki and Olympiamarssi were poems from the book Ateenasta Roomaan (From Athens to Rome), published in 1959 under the pseudonym Reino Hirviseppä. The 205-page book was subtitled “A selection of poems on the theme of sport”. An earlier version had been published after the 1936 Berlin Olympics. _Olympiamarssi- was later set to music by Kalervo Hämäläinen (1917-2015) and released as a record in 1960 with singer Matti Lehtinen (1922-2022).