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ULO TALL


[courtesy Larry J (Lockhart) Miller]

Grave marker for MSgt (ret.) Ulo Tall in the Woodman Cemetery, Leslie (Franklin County), Missouri.

He was born in 1930 in the village of Assamalla, Estonia a few miles SSE of Rakvere.

Ulo's father had been an Estonian policeman who was imprisoned for a year by the Russians before being executed and his mother was sent to Siberia. 

Following the end of WW-II, he fled the country, perhaps to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. He somehow found his way to the U.S. as a Displaced Person in July 1947.  He spoke fluent Russian, Estonian, and proficient German upon his arrival in this country. He never heard from or saw the rest of his family after arriving in the States.

On July 16th of that year he was issued a temporary passport by the New York Consul of the Republic of Estonia that was valid for two years, expiring on July 16, 1949.

How he managed to overstay the limits of that temporary passport's expiration date is unknown, but on 1 Oct 1951 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and subsequently volunteered for parachutist duty.  He completed jump school at Fort Benning in April 1952.

Ulo initially was assigned to the 508 RCT Regimental staff during the 1950s and later transferred to the 1st Armored Division. 

He rose rapidly in rank attaining the grade of Corporal in his first 2 years and had become a MSgt (E7) within 8 years when he transferred into the Army Reserves.  He may have retired at that grade.

According to family sources, "After he was in the reserves and sometime in 1962, he was recruited by ????? and was sent away from home for months at a time and not allowed any contact.  His wife thought it might be the CIA, but who knows. Two men came to their house and sent the family outside (his wife and two small children) so they could speak. She was never sure who they were. He was given a list of books to read and was the only one who did not have a college education in his group."

MSgt Tall never spoke to his family of his escape from Estonia nor of his later years in the Army.  On Jun 12 1976 Ulo was at home in Beaufort, Missouri with his 14-year old son and had a heart attack. He died before any help could arrive.

 

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