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MikeSz · 07-04-2008, 23:29

My Granddad once told me a story. He was drunk, and it was not often he was drunk. Being Ukrainian, he had a tolerance to alcohol - though it was the only way I could find out about his, and my past. So I didnt mind that he had a few extra vodka's. He told me that in his hometown of Lviv, he'd been training to be a priest. That, in the small farming town where he grew up in the Ukraine, he didnt completely agree with the Russian Government at the time but no-one was what you could call militant. The odd grumble here and there.

Unfortunately, Army Group Central - with one million men, tanks etc, marched through the Ukraine - and my Granddad was forced into the Red Army.

He was put in charge of a machine gun post in north Turkey. One night, he and a few of his friends decided that the time was right to cross the line and defect - they couldnt stand the soviet government of the USSR. They tossed their magazines into no-mans-land and ran out of their trenches shouting in German "We surrender, please have mercy!" A German Officer met my Granddad halfway across. After looking them up and down for a few seconds, this raged band of unsuspecting Russian conscripts, he shouted to them "Stop!!". My Granddad said at that point he thought that was it, that he would be shot. That he would never raise a family. The German Officer directed him round a land mine that he was about to stand on, and into the trenches. There he gave him some schnapps an invited him to pick a record. His best friend was not so lucky, he got shot in the head on the way over.

I'm telling this tale in public because its the only one I can relate to. Its the only thing I ever managed to get my Granddad to tell me before he died. A tutor at college once reprimanded me for saying that if people didnt want to vote it was their choice. He said "People must vote, because our fathers have died so that they can". I replied "people can choose not to vote, because that is their choice, and thats what our fathers died for - and please Sir don't presume to lecture me on such a subject".

Just thought id share that.

07-04-2008, 23:29	#20
MikeSz Full Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Rishton Posts: 184 Liked: 0 times Rep Power: 44	Re: voting My Granddad once told me a story. He was drunk, and it was not often he was drunk. Being Ukrainian, he had a tolerance to alcohol - though it was the only way I could find out about his, and my past. So I didnt mind that he had a few extra vodka's. He told me that in his hometown of Lviv, he'd been training to be a priest. That, in the small farming town where he grew up in the Ukraine, he didnt completely agree with the Russian Government at the time but no-one was what you could call militant. The odd grumble here and there. Unfortunately, Army Group Central - with one million men, tanks etc, marched through the Ukraine - and my Granddad was forced into the Red Army. He was put in charge of a machine gun post in north Turkey. One night, he and a few of his friends decided that the time was right to cross the line and defect - they couldnt stand the soviet government of the USSR. They tossed their magazines into no-mans-land and ran out of their trenches shouting in German "We surrender, please have mercy!" A German Officer met my Granddad halfway across. After looking them up and down for a few seconds, this raged band of unsuspecting Russian conscripts, he shouted to them "Stop!!". My Granddad said at that point he thought that was it, that he would be shot. That he would never raise a family. The German Officer directed him round a land mine that he was about to stand on, and into the trenches. There he gave him some schnapps an invited him to pick a record. His best friend was not so lucky, he got shot in the head on the way over. I'm telling this tale in public because its the only one I can relate to. Its the only thing I ever managed to get my Granddad to tell me before he died. A tutor at college once reprimanded me for saying that if people didnt want to vote it was their choice. He said "People must vote, because our fathers have died so that they can". I replied "people can choose not to vote, because that is their choice, and thats what our fathers died for - and please Sir don't presume to lecture me on such a subject". Just thought id share that. __________________ Cos it rocks!!! "I have often regretted my speech, never my silence." - Xenocrates (396-314 B.C.)