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Some Soviet WWII Vets

Discussion in 'Eastern Europe' started by KodiakBeer, Nov 29, 2012.

  1. KodiakBeer

    KodiakBeer Member

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    Location:
    The Arid Zone
    In 2005 I was in Russia and took a trip east to Izhevsk, which is a big armaments center south of the urals near the border of Kazakstan. At the train station (when heading back to Moscow) I found myself surrounded by 30 or 40 old men covered in medals who were obviously WWII vets who had been in Izhevsk for some sort of commemoration event. In rural Russia, there is always a big yellow tank of "kvas" nearby - a grain drink that tastes a bit like apple cider. It was a beautiful summer day and I treated everybody to cups of kvas and we sat there in the sun and had a wonderful conversation about the war through a translator.

    These guys, every one of them, still had a sparkle in their eye and a proud bearing. Early on, I told them that my dad had been in the US infantry in the war and one old guy, a bit more sour than the others, started in with "The Americans, what did the Americans do..." and he was immediately told to shut his pie hole by several others. Actually, my friend the translator said they used a very rude and untranslatable term to shut him up. The others were very apologetic and told me in several ways that everybody who fought in that war were brothers. One guy (the fellow in the mustache below) had met the Americans at the Elbe and had some very nice things to say about the Americans he had met.

    These men had all been in different units on different fronts. One had been in Stalingrad, not in the pincers that had relieved the city, but one of those few who had defended it until pushed against the river. He was missing a leg. The others were very quiet when he spoke and looked at him with respect, as did I. Two others had been in the final push on Berlin. One told how a big tank had been dug into the street impregnable to guns until a few men had crawled right up to it and threw jerry cans of gasoline on it. They all chuckled about cooking a few Germans...

    When their train came, I shook each of their hands and said "Spasiba for Berlin" to the guys who had fought in Berlin, "Spasiba for Stalingrad" for the guy who had fought in Stalingrad, "Spasiba" to each of the others who had not mentioned a particular battle. We all had tears in our eyes.

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    arca, PzJgr, Biak and 1 other person like this.
  2. Yaldy

    Yaldy recruit

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    That must have been an amazing experience. Those pics say it all!
     

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