By Galina Stasjuk (Chizhakovskaja)
translated by Diana Mann (703) 406 4780
FRIENDS & TIME
It was winter of 1942. Even the most distant parts of our
planet were vibrating from the bomb explosions and men’s grief. Nazi’s army –
excellently equipped, inspired by easy victories was marching across
The world was entangled in the horror of World War II, the Great Patriotic War
for my country – the
It was the aspiration of millions of men from
different countries which brought back the peace.
I have no intention to describe the history of that
time. I want to reveal the true story
about its heroes – about American marines, who risked their lives to help people
of my country and about our friendship.
Here is the story.
During the war my family lived in a little town on
the
It was obvious to me that their feet were freezing.
They were wearing cloth boots on and they still had to make their way to the
port for about 2 miles. The decision was
made at once – I invited them to my home.
I wasn’t thinking what my parents would say about it. People were cold
and the rest was
irrelevant.
For me, as a kid, that was just a normal response
to the situation. But for my parents, that was a brave act.
My father was a military man. Presence of foreign
marines in our house, once discovered, could have resulted in bad consequences. Neither word “ally”, nor the fact that those
guys were facing death for the sake of our lives was considered. The government
policy ordered everyone to stay away from any foreigner. To express one’s own
will and mind meant to become out of control. That was absolutely unacceptable
for Stalin’s regime. But still, most of the people lived in accordance with
their conscience, no matter what was happening.
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So, my new friends understood my gesture and we ran
all together into my house. Shaking off the snow and laughing we bashed
inside. My stepmother Olga was stunned
for a moment. But when I briefly explained to her why we have guests she smiled
and invited them to the table. I rushed to make some boiling water for tea.
Olga put teacups and cranberry jam on the table. The hospitable surrounding,
jokes and hot tea made those brave soldiers fit perfectly into the cozy house atmosphere.
Dick even started to dance from the excitement. He just turned 17…
We understood each other surprisingly well. We used
a little dictionary – I can’t remember now to whom it belonged. Interrupting
each other we were translating endless questions and answers. Such a fun
bursting company had greeted my completely unaware father.
He came to have some rest
after inspecting the bay for the whole night. Nazi started to bomb Arhangelsk and Molotovsk and
there was a suspicion that they had a base somewhere on our territory along the
My father was surprised with such unexpected
gathering but wasn’t upset at all, on the contrary. He spoke some English and
that made our time together even more interesting. From that day on our
American friends would stop by our house every time they were going to the
"Inter" Club or back to the port. My stepmother always tried to
prepare something tasty for the guys (as far as it was possible for that time).
They often brought us delicious things too – biscuits, white bread, canned
meat. Most of the time it was Slam who “transported” presents from the ship to
our house. He was very tall and that provided excellent “hiding” space. He
placed biscuits wrapped in a new towel around his waste. Thick winter coat, which
was completing the attire, made it absolutely impossible to raise any suspicion
of the guards.
We all became friends. Dick and I even had romantic
feelings for each other. He gave me the record album with opera “Sadko” by Rimsky-Korsakov, performed by Russian singers.
Somebody from the guys brought us a very beautiful yellow tablecloth made from
silk with red embroidered lion on it.
Once, my father came home with a pair of valenki (felt boots). He told them, that the
freezing winter would still last for a while. The first lucky guy was Dick – valenki fitted him perfectly. But there was one more
problem that we had to deal with. Nothing could be taken from our house to the
ship because that could attract the military patrol's attention. After an
unpleasant incident the vigilant eye of the authorities had started to watch
over our friendship. One evening, when we sat all together, my father had an
unexpected visitor. That was the "officer-in-charge-of-political-subjects" from his
headquarters. When he saw foreign marines he became so furious that was unable
to utter a word. Olga pretended she didn’t understand his reaction and invited
him to share a cup of tea with everybody. He just slammed the door instead.
So, that meant that we had to hand valenki imperceptibly somewhere on the street. The
conspiracy plan was elaborated at once. I was walking towards the end of the
town with the camouflaged valenki. In the
certain place I would hand the package to the new valenki
owner and proceed
casually, as if nothing happened. After a while, everyone was taken care of
except for Slam. He had a very big foot size corresponding to
his height and that
-3-
made it difficult to find the
appropriate pair for him. But finally Slam got his valenki
and I was happy
that my new friends were not going to freeze.
Very often I think about this
courageous men. They
helped people of my country in the most critical moment of that
war. Our military production
was still weak and the enemy was coming closer and closer to
If my friends – now proud grandfathers and veterans,
will read this story I will be very happy to wish them all the best. I want
them to know, that what they had done is written in the History of Great man’s
spirit. That feat will be forever in the heart of our nation as they will be
always in my heart.
To whom it may concern:
"Friends and Time" is a true story written
by my grandmother. She feels that if this story will reach those young men that
she met or even anybody who participated in the "Lend-lease" campaign or their
children, it would be great for them to know that they are remembered in
She is visiting me and my family in
Thank you for your time!
Diana Mann
The current way to make contact is to either call
Diana Mann at (703) 406-4780 or email her at email address DZEREBOVA@HOTMAIL.COM.
I think when she refers to Marines she means either
Merchant Marine or US Navy Armed Guard sailors (all are veterans).
Tom Bowerman