1960 GUSTAF MANNERHEIM ~ CHAMPION OF LIBERTY 1165 Plate Block of 4 x 4 cent US Postage Stamps

On October 26, 1960 in Washington DC, the USPS honored Gustaf Mannerheim, a military officer and statesman and the sixth President of Finland. Mannerheim was also Commander-in-Chief of Finland's Defence Forces, Marshal of Finland, and Regent of Finland. He made is career in the Russian army, rising to general. After the Bolshevik revolution, Finland declared its independence but was soon embroiled in a civil war along class lines. Twenty years later when Finland was at war with the Soviet Union, Mannerheim was appointed commander of the country's armed forces. Mannerheim was born on June 4, 186 and died on January 27, 1951 at the age of 83.