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Like a large and complex gear train slowly picking up speed, events, forces and lives in America had been set into motion by the death of Ann Oja. Four thousand miles to the east local family and friends gathered at the rural Oja farm east of Tallinn, Estonia to comfort, Jaak, her husband of 68 years whom they all loved dearly. For most in attendance change of a profound nature approached just beyond the visible horizon. No one could see it coming.

In Search of the Lost 7^th Royale Part 3 (Episode 13- Return to a Heart of Darkness)

Estonian Forest Brothers

ESTONIA 1986

Unknown to the world, the 7^th Royale radiated a glorious presence with lines that bore the signature of Jean Bugatti’s unique genius. His creative gifts seasoned through years of inspired expression had manifested itself in ever greater iconic automobile designs through the 1930s. The 7^th Royale capped a brilliant body of work sadly cut short by the young Bugatti’s untimely death. The sculpted lines penned by Bugatti imparted a breathtaking visual expression of motion, power and elegance. The Royale’s velvet smooth 12.7-liter 400 plus horsepower 8-cyl. engine stamped an equally resounding exclamation point with performance capabilities that did the incomparable aesthetics justice. For almost half a century this Olympian masterpiece had stood stoically in silence and darkness under an accumulating blanket of fine dust.

As he had for almost half a century, Jaak Oja, now stooped and bearing a veil of grief, slipped past the barn’s false rear wall to dutifully minister a dose of oil to the eight cylinders of his beautiful beast. With the loss of his beloved wife Ann, Jaak felt the imminence of approaching change. He saw no better plan than to wait for it to come.

NEW JERSEY 1986

News of his mother, Ann Oja’s, death savaged areas in Mihkel’s heart and soul possessing no capability for defense. Like a cruel mind game, death had ripped a scab off emotions Mihkel had long repressed. It had abruptly brought to the forefront of his mind his beloved mother. Then, just as suddenly, ripped her away with cruel finality. Further adding to his sorrow, Mihkel had to face the question of what about his elderly and, now, widowed father?

Though sealed off from Estonia by the Soviet Iron Curtain of the post WWII years, Mihkel had exerted his best efforts to stay connected with his parents. Letters bland enough to be read by the oppressive Soviet KGB censors without incident could be exchanged. At times, packages sent from America bearing what appeared to be scraps and basic necessities would reach the Oja farm. Always the soul numbing Soviet repression hung over all exchanges like a toxic cloud. Mihkel knew that with his mother’s passing his father’s time would surely be near. Now, for Mihkel it was Soviet oppression be damned. He had to see his father, but how?

ESTONIA 1945

In one of those serendipitous circles of life, the means for returning Mihkel to his father’s Estonian farm had its roots anchored in the painful past of WWII Soviet deportation of native Estonians. During the war years Juri Varnik, Mihkel’s boyhood friend, had become one of the many thousands of valiant Estonian men known as the “Forest Brothers.” These Estonian patriots had armed themselves and blended into the dense Estonian forests. From there, as a powerful guerrilla force, they attacked occupying Soviet troops. Towards the war’s end Juri had been part of a “Forest Brothers” scouting unit that had set upon a Soviet truck convoy. Each truck with its canvas top drumming in the wind was carrying Estonian women and children to a local railhead. There east bound freight trains encircled by a malevolent cloud of locomotive smoke, snorts, hisses, and haunting whistles impatiently waited. Upon arrival these terror struck bewildered women and children would be squeezed into freight cars destined for Siberian gulags and, most likely, death. Freed by the Forest Brothers’ deadly assault, the women and children fled in all directions. Amidst the horror and chaos a beautiful though fleeting encounter changed the lives of two young Estonians and in so doing rippled through lives of loved ones decades later.

Train to Soviet Gulag

Fleeing into the forest a distance from the railhead, young “Forest Brother” Juri Varnik helped one of the freed women, Katariina Jakobson find shelter. Not yet twenty, Katariina, a bright and comely seamstress harbored beautiful dreams despite the presently ugly world surrounding her. Katariina shared her dreams with Juri. Mesmerized he would sit attentively as she spoke. The rich poetry of her words and gentle voice cast a spell to which Juri joyfully succumbed. He marveled at the wisdom, insight and passion for someone so young…and beautiful.

Though only knowing each other for a handful of days in this happenstance encounter of 1945, the young Estonian couple knew they had found love. Their love would last, their time together would not. While fetching water in a nearby stream Katariina encountered Soviet guards. Concerned by her failure to return, Juri, following her trail, saw her, under guard and being returned to the railhead. In an act of ultimate love and sacrifice, Juri dispatched the two guards and with a final kiss hid Katariina on a west bound train heading to what he hoped would be an allied “Displaced Persons Camp”. He then distracted approaching Soviet guards and led them away in chase. Katariina never saw him again nor ever learned of his fate. She always hoped for one thing but knew another. Nine months later in early 1946, Katariina gave birth to a beautiful daughter whom she named Valentina Varnik.

UKRAINE 1986

Leonid Brezhnev’s 1973 Lincoln Towncar

Even for a member of the Soviet hierarchy, life had been especially good for Colonel Yuri Petrov. With his patron Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev holding the reins of power for 18 years, Petrov developed a political momentum that carried him in grand style through the years following Brezhnev’s death in 1982. In the later 1970s as the Premier had sunk into an alcohol and drug fed haze, the great care Petrov exhibited in overseeing Brezhnev’s significant car collection and personal needs earned Petrov handsome rewards such as his 200-acre country estate in the Ukraine. This wooded retreat near the Black Sea afforded an ideal setting for driving the classic cars he had collected. Many of his cars had been skillfully extracted from the Brezhnev Collection while leaving no record of their disappearance. Other vintage vehicles had been added during numerous classic car search trips to wealthy venues outside of the Soviet Union. Petrov, in deftly employing the skills and connections honed in his service to Brezhnev endeared himself to other influential Russians possessing a comparable appetite for the “good things” in life.

On one trip that took him to France, he visited an elderly aunt, Yvonne Smirnov. She lived near the old Bugatti factory where she had worked as an office manager before WWII. In the midst of an idle conversion with his elderly aunt, Petrov snapped to when she recalled some big fancy secret high speed custom Bugatti and some nosey journalist who had come to ask questions about it. She apologized for her bad memory and for forgetting exactly where up north it had been shipped. She then drifted off to other stories and mourned the death of Mr. Bugatti’s lovely son. Petrov, however, could never free his mind of the possible existence of a mystery high performance custom Bugatti that disappeared just before WWII.

NEW JERSEY 1986

Mihkel had reached out to share the news of his mother’s passing with his best friend Ed Sikes. Ed, after leaving the service in the 1970s, had delighted Mihkel by choosing to open a business in nearby Greenwich, Connecticut. A savvy businessman who knew what he liked, Ed utilized his global contacts to launch a business that specialized in brokering the sale of vintage aircraft, primarily military and vintage luxury cars. He operated out of a renovated Cadillac dealership from the 1930s. He along with fellow local visionaries and WWII veterans Ed Jurist (Vintage Car Store in Nyack, NY) and Bob Grossman (Foreign Cars of Rockland in West Nyack, NY) served a marketplace comprised of knowledgeable collectors possessing considerable disposable income. Ed came from money and continued to attract it in his adult years. As Mihkel hung up the phone a vibrant blonde burst through the door.

“Hello Uncle Naali”. The bright and joyful voice came from one Valentina Varnik Taylor. She loved to use his sobriquet from his WWII exploits. Blonde, athletic and pretty, Valentina did not so much command a room when entering; more so, the room seemed to happily yield to her presence. As she sashayed into Mihkel’s office no one could foresee the pivotal role she would play in Mihkel’s return to the Oja farm and his father.

Katariina Varnik with young daughter Valentina had migrated to America in 1948. As a gifted seamstress she established a business in Englewood New Jersey, just across the George Washington Bridge from New York City. She soon gained renown for both bespoke women’s fashion and custom drapery.

Young Valentina had made many influential connections through her mother’s clientele. Now 40-year old, Valentina held a respected position at the United Nations in New York City as a multi-lingual translator, with Estonian and Russian languages among her fluencies. She also served as a member of the diplomatic corps. Her work focused on the Scandinavian and Baltic nations. As a pastime, Valentina’s passion for and mastery of Estonian Folk dance afforded her the opportunity to visit and immerse herself in the birthplace and culture of her parents. Interestingly, it would prove to play a critical role in facilitating Mihkel’s return home.

Happily  married, Valentina’s husband John Taylor, a geologist by education and trade, worked at the nearby renowned Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Much of his time, however, demanded conducting on-site research involving the significant oil and gas reserves in and around the Baltic nations. His work had created the opportunity to meet Valentina at a United Nations conference.

Apple 1984 TV ad

Shortly after relocating to New Jersey in 1965 Mihkel and Beth had attended a local Lutheran church with a appreciable membership with Estonian roots. It did not take long for the Oja and Varnik families to discover their bond. Thus, by sheer happenstance the life lines of old Estonian boyhood friends Mihkel and Juri reconnected at the spot marked by Valentina. Over the years Valentina had embraced Mihkel and Beth as her uncle and aunt. Both loved her like their own. They thought she looked just like the spirited blonde runner throwing the sledgehammer in the iconic Apple Mactintosh “1984” Super Bowl ad.

Mihkel shared with Valentina the news of his mother’s death and the imperative need for him to return to Estonia. In a blink her ebullient mood turned focused and task oriented. Clearly, Mihkel had enlisted the wholehearted support of one who would be a most wily, tough and resourceful co-conspirator. Mihkel with a tone of quiet reflection instructed all present to give thought to the challenge at hand. Valentina mentioned that with Mikhail Gorbachev now ruling the USSR and louder calls for self determination rumbling throughout the Soviet Union, some sensed the Iron Curtain around Estonia gaining a certain porosity.

A few days later Mihkel, wife Beth, son Jack, Valentina and husband John Taylor gathered at the hand hewn dinner table at Mihkel’s house. Son Jack spoke first. A wrestler while at Purdue University earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Jack, at six feet two inches and 210 pounds looked like a living action figure. Jack would be your guy if seeking the  archetype for “the strong silent type.” Standing tall at the table he simply stated that considering the fluidity of world events, returning his father to Estonia would not be a question of if but how. In speaking next, Valentina bearing an unusually impish expression explained how she and husband John had evaluated the resources at Mihkel’s disposal and flushed out an idea. She then turned to Jack and asked if he liked to dance.

In the next few weeks a plan took shape. The international credentials of Valentina through her U.N. cultural exchange dance activities and husband John’s work involving the Estonian fracking fields could both provide cover for penetrating what appeared to be an increasingly permeable Estonian border security. Valentina had a number of times traveled to Estonia to reintroduce the traditional native Estonian folk dances that had been purged from the Estonian culture during the height of the Soviet occupation. Her passion, perfection and personality would ensure a warm  welcomed back. She thought Jack could more easily gain entry as part of her dance team. Jack while not enthused accepted his place in the plan. He made clear he would do anything for his father and the grandfather he had never met. Geologist John’s plan provided for Mihkel to be a technician on his research team. As the fruits of John’s work served to attract hard currency to Estonia, the presence of his team served everyone’s interest including the occupying Soviets. Late fall saw the two teams under cover of their professional guises depart America as separate and independent operations.

Ukraine 1986

The phone rang at the bedside of Yuri Petrov. Not there to answer, Petrov could be found luxuriating with a few well compensated and endowed companions on the fantail of a 174 ft. custom built Benetti yacht. Petrov basked in the sun as he sailed across the Black Sea to Yalta for a vacation on the Russian Riviera. The trip? A thank you gift to Petrov for facilitating the yacht owner’s purchase of a state owned oil company. Petrov wanted for nothing except for more of everything.

The answering machine clicked on. The raspy voice of Yvonne Smirnov, Petrov’s elderly aunt and one time Bugatti office manager could be heard. She said to give her a call. The machine clicked off.

War blazes in Europe. Scandinavia quakes under threats of Nazi invasion. Soviet armies march into Finland. Seeking to escape the deadly whirlwind stirred by Soviet troops to the east and Nazi forces to the west, Estonian freedom fighter Mihkel “Arctic Fox” Oja and American pilot Ed “Wonderfalk” Sikes must flee the frozen battlefield. Both had volunteered to fight for Finland against the Soviets in the Winter War. Now they must retreat from the onrushing and victorious Soviet forces. Powered by Mihkel’s team of strong willed sled dogs they will brave the frozen hell of the Arctic Circle in a last ditch effort to reach neutral Sweden and avoid certain capture and, most assuredly, death. Then, in making their escape a downed allied bomber would change their lives.

With survival dominating his thoughts, Mihkel harbors no recollection of his father’s, tale of a dead Romanian playboy’s Bugatti abandoned at the Oja farm in rural Estonia.

In Search of the Lost 7^th Royale Part 2 (Episode 12 – Two Heroes’ Dramatic and Divergent Paths to Freedom)

Balto Alaska rescue mission

KIRUNA, SWEDEN 1940

The fateful events surrounding the rescue of the allied Bristol Bomber air crew triggered startlingly unforeseen and profound opportunities for both Ed and Mihkel.

In their brief time together at the frozen airfield in Kiruna Sweden, Ed and Arctic flying legend Bernt Balchen had developed a bond that would last a lifetime. Ed had accepted Balchen’s invitation to join his team that supported the early British war effort by ferrying airplanes to England. Then, in the summer of 1941, Balchen joined the United States Army Air Force as a colonel and accepted the responsibility of overseeing construction of a major Air Force base in Greenland. At Col. Balchen’s urging and with the colonel’s personal recommendation Ed enlisted in the USAAF and in a few months become the youngest American pilot in the European theater. When America went to war Col. Balchen included Ed in the rescue air team responsible for a litany of dramatic, high risk rescue missions of allied fliers downed in the frozen arctic wilderness. Through the war years Ed flew fighters, bombers and PBY Catalina rescue sea planes. He served as one of the first pilots to test helicopters in battle conditions. Ed “Wonderfalk” served his country and its allies for decades. By way of his unflinching courage, brilliant airmanship, selfless sacrifice and relentless good spirits he earned respect, admiration and undying friendships on multiple continents.

As to the Fox and Hounds, Mihkel’s exploits gained significant recognition, certainly among those Swedes responsible for supporting the national efforts to protect the Swedish nation. He enjoyed significant government support for a facility that trained mushers and skilled dog teams capable of delivering supplies and conducting rescue missions. Mihkel named his training facility “Balto Alaska.” It honored the world’s most famous sled dog who had become an American national hero after leading the team that delivered desperately needed diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska in 1925. The Alaska part paid tribute to a distant land that filled Mihkel’s dreams. He envisioned it as a glorious place where people lived in freedom and loved sled dogs.

ZWICKAU, GERMANY 1945

Auto Union Silver Arrow

By the end of WWII Yuri Petrov had solidified his place as a member of Leonid Brezhnev’s inner circle. As a trusted subordinate, Petrov could not believe how fate had smiled on him. Orders from Brezhnev took him to Zwickau, Germany, the site of the Auto Union factory and the location of the stored Grand Prix Silver Arrow cars of 1939. Petrov knew Brezhnev had a thing for fast cars but, now, he truly understood the extent of Brezhnev’s interest. Petrov insinuated himself into the process of shipping the Silver Arrows back to Russia for study. One evening he stole into the warehouse to actually sit in one of the 12-cylinder silver  brutes waiting for shipment. With his hands grasping the wheel he became in his imagination one of the racing gods of the Grand Prix circuit. Seated in silence and shadows he wondered, had the great Nuvolari sat where he now sat? He allowed himself to dream. Touching that Silver Arrow ignited a passion that would only build as the years passed.

SWEDEN  1945

The tumultuous war years provided a canvas upon which both Ed and Mihkel sketched lives both fulfilling yet unsettled. When the clouds of war cleared in 1945, it brought relief accompanied by a great awakening in Mihkel. With Estonia firmly in Soviet hands, he began serious consideration of where he could build a life. He wanted to leave Europe. He dreamed of coming to America but dreaming does not make it so. And what would he do with his beloved dog team? He continued his life in Sweden training dogs and developing the mechanical and metal fabrication skills inherited from his father.

P-38 Lightning

During his war years in Sweden he and his team often received the call to locate and rescue downed airmen. He always preferred saving allied fliers. However, when called upon to save Nazi or Soviet airman he found that many were only too happy to have escaped the service of their dictator led homelands. Whether allied or Nazi, Mihkel would query every flier to unearth any news of Ed “Wonderfalk.” Many allied fliers had heard of him though few had any specifics.” One American pilot’s colorful comments made Mihkel laugh because he had no doubt of its truth. The pilot had no idea of Ed’s present whereabouts but he told Mihkel, “That boy can fly and wherever he is, he’s causing a shit load of trouble for the Germans.”

Downed German pilots who knew of “Wonderfalk” while not laudatory in their comments expressed a grudging respect. In piecing together bits of stories from both allied and German airman, Mihkel had assembled one apparently true story that unmistakably bore the mark of Ed “Wonderfalk.” In summer of 1943 three American P-38 “Lightening” twin engine high speed fighters surreptitiously undertook a long distance and blisteringly quick strafing of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest “Summit of Power” positioned high above the town of Berchtesgaden. The attack much like the Doolittle raid over Tokyo accomplished little structural damage if any. Rather, the bold strike succeeded in delivering a message of vulnerability to Hitler on his doorstep. Mihkel thought the attack screamed of classic Wonderfalk. He would not be wrong.

Years passed producing a dull sense of sameness for Mihkel. It deepened his hunger for change. He got snippets of information indicating his parents were alive and still on the farm but with the Soviet occupation no means existed for him to see them. He dreamed of America. Sometimes dreams come true.

SWEDEN 1948

Ed “Wonderfalk Sikes strode confidently into the Balto Alaska office. Having grown into full manhood, now trim, poised and sharp in his Air Force uniform he threw both arms around a surprised and stunned Mihkel. Mihkel’s faltering efforts to ask a multitude of questions simultaneous devolved into the two men simply embracing. Ed spoke of how Col. Balchen after the war had been recalled to active duty and assigned to command the 10th Rescue Squadron in Alaska. Col. Balchen assigned Ed the responsibility of Chief of Rescue Operations. Ed described both the beauty and freedom found in Alaska. He also explained Col. Balchen’s considerable influence with The Alaskan Territorial Court System. The Court had the responsibility for processing immigration documents for individuals living in Alaska and wishing to be American citizens. Ed would be returning there. Then came the kicker. Ed asked if Mihkel would like to become an American citizen. Mihkel burst with excitement, an excitement that just as quickly extinguished. What about his sled dogs? Ed’s Response sealed the deal. As long as a vet certified their health, the Hounds could accompany the Fox.

DNEPROPETROVSK, UKRAINE 1948

In 1948 Brezhnev returned to his Ukrainian home town of Dnepropetrovsk to be the regional first party secretary. Accompanying Brezhnev, Petrov clung by his side like a pilot fish hugging its host shark. The comparison came much closer to reality than analogy. Petrov hung close to protect Brezhnev from political parasites while Brezhnev’s political power protected Petrov from bigger fish in the carnivorous Soviet political pond.

Nineteen fifty saw Brezhnev promoted and sent to Romania tasked with Sovietizing the population of the recently conquered country. While in Romania Petrov became acquainted with the stories of the Antonescu family wealth and their love affair with exotic cars. These stories represented but one dot of interesting information for the Soviet car enthusiast. Petrov, however, did not yet have enough dots to draw a line back to Estonia.

ALASKA, 1956

Since setting foot in Alaska in 1949, Mihkel had established himself as a respected participant in local sled dog racing. He found the skill level of competitive Alaskan mushers extremely high. That said, while never winning the prestigious NAC race, North American Championship, (The Indy 500 of dog sledding) he consistently placed high despite the advancing age of his dog team. The shared love and loyalty that existed between Mihkel and his team shaped his life in Alaska. In the early 1950s his beloved dogs began to pass. By 1956 none remained. Racing without his team no longer gave him the same joy. While a charter member of the Alaska Dog Musher’s Association, Mihkel stopped competing. By the mid-1950s his gift for mechanical troubleshooting and especially for metal fabrication had begun earning him a reputation that had spread beyond Alaska.

With the retirement of Colonel Balchen in 1955, Ed chose to leave the Air Force as well. He had been spoiled by Col. Balchen’s excellence and did not wish to answer to anyone less. He joined up with some WWII Air Force buddies who had started an air freight business called Flying Tiger Line. He flew routes all over the world including Alaska. The face-to-face opportunities it provided tightened the bond of friendship with Mihkel.

Around that time Ed, while in town, had reached out to introduced Mihkel to a longtime friend from back east named Johnny Santucci. Ed had met Johnny, whose real first name was Gianni, through Flying Tiger. Johnny, a WWII veteran and a hard working and savvy man of means, had earned his wealth and stature in the global shipping business. A widower, he had his 25-year old daughter Beth accompanying him. A free-spirited outdoorswoman and a bit of an adventurer herself, she wanted to experience the NAC dog sled race. Ed thought Mihkel would be the perfect guide. Apparently so did Beth. By Christmas 1956, Beth and Mihkel had married, set up a home in Anchorage and started a family with the addition of a son, Jack, named in honor of Mihkel’s father. Mihkel’s business grew quickly. So did young son Jack who spent most free hours at his father’s side honing the craft and creative skills found aplenty in the Oja gene pool. For the young Oja family, as the early rock band the “Crew Cuts” sang in 1954,  “Life is but a dream,” until it was not. It fell apart on March 27^th 1964.

Anchorage earthquake 1964

On that date the largest earthquake in the history of the United States, measuring a 9.2 on the Richter scale, and the second largest on record in the world hit Anchorage at 5:36 pm Alaska time. A land mass of roughly 46,000 square miles pitched up; in some places over 80 feet. Tsunamis swept down the west coast sweeping villages out to sea. The main street of Anchorage collapsed 20 feet into the earth. Locomotives were tossed up hillsides. For all intents and purposes Anchorage, as people knew it had been demolished. So, too, had the life built by Mihkel and Beth Oja.

ESTONIA 1964

Bitter at the communists for their decades of lies, oppression and treachery, 64-year old Jaak Oja gained his only solace from his loving wife, Ann; his tight knit community and the priceless secret hiding in his barn.

The communists had promised a better, richer life. Save for the Soviet apparatchiks ruling Jaak’s country, as with all other countries under the communist fist, the promise of a better life ranked as one of the greatest frauds perpetrated on mankind. Buoyed by the loved ones around him and his once a month visit behind the false wall in his barn with his oil can, Jaak Oja, more than most, found peace in a life lived under the communist’s radar.

NORTHVALE, NEW JERSEY USA 1964

Mihkel’s family had lost everything, his business, their home and most belongings. When Beth’s father, Johnny, suggested Mihkel move his family near Johnny’s home in Northern New Jersey it seemed a life altering but undeniably correct decision. With Mihkel’s English well polished from his time in the states, he could even tell jokes, as he did in accepting Johnny’s invitation by declaring that for he and wife Beth, earth-shaking experiences were nothing new.

NORTHVALE, NEW JERSEY USA 1986

Bob Seger’s new single “Like a rock” blasted out of the approaching 1979 Dodge Li’l Red Express pickup truck. It rumbled to a stop respectfully distanced from a 1984 Blue Metallic Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe. The two vehicles enjoyed significant company in the form of thoroughbred foreign cars of the performance kind and muscular domestic iron. The assemblage parked facing the workshop represented a broad range of vintages.

Low and handsome the workshop’s fascia and interior featured a handsome execution of stone and barn wood harvested from the fast disappearing local area farms. A cowboy boot emerged from the customer’s red hotrod pickup. Jack Oja flashed a thumbs up to his dad, Mihkel, seated inside his office.

Having left behind the earthquake savaged home of his auto specialty shop in Anchorage, Alaska, Mihkel with family in tow arrived in Northern New Jersey in 1965 with a dream and a plan. His new business, Fox and Hounds Performance Services would target discerning aficionados of high end performance vehicles.

Mihkel’s Thirty-year old son Jack filled the front door as he entered the shop. Earlier, when he had left to road test the truck, it seemed like just another fine late summer day at Fox and Hounds Performance. Now, entering the office and seeing his father, Jack sensed something wrong, very wrong. Jack just stared silently and waited. Mihkel, now 66-years old, seemed frozen. His elbows rested on his desk to steady the clenched weathered hands supporting his chin. His gaze vacant, a telegram hung down captive in his grip. The news? Mihkel’s mother Ann Oja had died. His parents seemingly timeless and indestructible family unit had been shattered leaving his father Jaak a widower. Mihkel knew the Soviets could have long memories, he also knew he would have to return home to Estonia.