Basil Robert McAllister, a wispy, stoop-shouldered Bronx bank teller, first fell in love with Finland at the New York World's Fair, in 1939. He visited the Finnish Pavilion on his days off, met and liked the Finns who worked there. A bachelor, he joined a Finnish club in Manhattan, went to dinners and dances there. When the fair ended, he began to correspond with his Finnish friends who had returned home. Said he: "The Finns are very straightforward and honest and dependable. They agree with me and I agree with them."
The war stopped his correspondence, but after V-E day he began...
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