During the first days of the Winter War in early December 1939, Red Army troops occupied the schoolhouse at Ukkolanvaara and its surroundings. The schoolhouse stands barely two kilometres away from a road junction at which the Soviet 786th Regiment turned toward the settlements of Korentovaara and Lehtovaara with Ilomantsi parish village as their objective.

The regiment ground to a halt 15 kilometres farther at Kallioniemi, where a ferry was the sole means of crossing the Koitajoki River. The Russians set up a dressing station in the schoolhouse at a safe distance from the contact line.

 The fate of the original schoolhouse after the end of the Winter War is uncertain. A photograph taken in 1940 shows a simple building on concrete blocks. The same method was used for the assembly of prefabricated houses donated by Sweden later that year. The present schoolhouse was built after the wars, purportedly using materials from the aforementioned building, which was in use during the Continuation War.

 During the battles of the summer of 1944, the schoolhouse and its surroundings were taken over by Finnish troops. The building housed a dressing station where wounded soldiers were given first aid before they were moved to field hospitals and military hospitals in the rear. Finnish soldiers killed in action were also brought to the school yard.

 A wounded war veteran recalled the chill he felt while waiting for medical care next to dead bodies piled against one end of the schoolhouse and wondering if the same fate was awaiting him.

 The enemy's attack spearheads were halted in late July and early August on the Ilajanjoki River, only 2.5 kilometres away from Ukkolanvaara. The Finnish 3rd Border Jaeger Battalion dug in near the river bridge and established a command post in the schoolhouse. 

Prisoners of war brought from the river and its vicinity were assembled in the school yard. The veteran who was quoted above recalled his feelings when he watched enemy prisoners. At first, he felt overhelming hatred toward Red Army soldiers who had invaded his country. But after observing shabby, fearful, and hungry young men for a while, hatred began to give way to pity. The veteran concluded that the youngsters had been sent to war against their will. They had been forced to the Front at gunpoint.