|
Stalingrad, Russia, 1942 |
||
 One of a few buildings still standing  Street fight  Room fight |
||
 Enemy is still strong  Here was a city  1.5 – 2 mln lost. Nobody knows exactly |
||
 It is a memorial – the Eternal Flame in Mamayev Kurgan – for those killed in Stalingrad. You can see banners made of red marble with names etched on them. On the banner 17 is listed the name of my granddad – my mother’s father. He was killed “in the street near the mechanical plant works,” according to the field report I have found online. His name was Nikolay. It is in his honor my parents named me. |
||
 My grandma Maria. 1953  My father Peter. 1944  Luda’s father Nikolay. 1952 |
||
|
On the left is my grandmother Maria, the widow of my granddad Nikolay, killed in Stalingrad. During the war she (with two children, one was my future mother Larisa) evacuated to Siberia, where she managed three production sites that manufactured soldier uniform and other war related equipment. She had several war time decoration for her war effort contribution. In the middle is my father Peter at age 19. He volunteered to fight at age 17, about the time my granddad Nikolay was killed. Peter was supposed to fight in Stalingrad too, but by the time he got there the battle was over. He continued throughout the rest of the war and was awarded all four of the soldier’s medal, given at that time in the trenches. The war stories Trooper tells Zinka in “Crater” are from him. On the right is my wife Luda’s father Nikolay, who also fought not far from Stalingrad. His future wife Maria (yes, the same names as my grandma and my granddad) – Luda’s mother – at the time was on the occupied territory and went through all the atrocities of the war, including death sentence by Germans (but escaped through the whole under the wall, which her mother dug out at night from outside). She lives now with us and provides healthy life prospective: if there is no war, there is no problem. |
||
|
Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, 1944 |
||
 Craters from bombing still visible today  The cliffs to be scaled  Landing begins. Two thirds of them will be lost |
||
 Enemy has advantage  Forward! Go! Go! Go!  And up! Go! Go! Go! |
||
|
Oh, memory! Keep me up all the night, so I do not forget. |