Great Granddads, Granddads, etc.
My paternal Great Grandad was a conscript in the Tsarist army. My Dad's dad and his wife both "disappeared" during Stalin's purges. My Dad was rounded up and sent to Germany as a "guestworker" when the Germans occupied the Ukraine. Towards the end of the war he was conscripted into the German army and sent as part of occupation force to Denmark.
First chance he got he ran away, buried his uniform and gun, and was sheltered by a farmer who was grateful for the extra help around the farm.
My dad was just a teenager, he said he didn't want to shoot anyone.
My dad died a few years ago after a sad slow decline, and didn't talk much about the war. But did remember the retreating Russian army as it passed through his village during early Barbarossa. A lot of badly wounded guys, confused and frightened.
There's good and bad guys on both sides in every war, and as Gen. Sherman said "War is hell".
Thank God for Gorbachov and Yeltsin and the end of the Coldwar.
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