Vnuchka Memoirs, Part 1
Sharing life stories with my granddaughter
At the request of my sons and wife, I’m going to share the important events and features of my life, the ones that shaped me and made me who I am. It’s not going to be a chronological autobiography. Instead, I’m going to describe important threads in my life, starting with my encounter and relationship with the Russian language.
My father was a hero. He served in WWII as a gunner in a bomber flying out of England and raiding targets in Germany. At one time, he did tell me of one mission where they were supposed to destroy a ball bearing factory in Germany. I don’t know if that’s the mission he was on when his plane was shot down, but he survived the crash with a serious neck injury, then was held in a German POW camp until he was liberated by US forces. He came away with 2 souvenirs, besides the permanent, painful neck injury. He showed them to me and talked about them a little when I was in the 3rd grade in Waco, Texas. One was an aluminum fork, large and clumsy, stamped on the upper handle with a Nazi symbol. I thought this was kind of interesting, but it didn’t impress me nearly as much as the pamphlet he’d saved all those years. It was a booklet, if I remember correctly, and it was given to every bomber crew member who flew from England to targets of Germany. If their plane was damaged and couldn’t make it back to England, they were instructed to fly east until they were behind Soviet lines. The pamphlets were designed to help them communicate with Russian soldiers once they were on the ground. There were various useful sayings like, “Don’t shoot! I’m an American!” or “I’m hungry.” or “I’m injured and need a doctor.” Each expression was written in Russian, English, and transliterated phonetic versions of the Russian. This fascinated me, especially the strange Cyrillic alphabet. I somehow wound up with the fork, but I think I gave it away to someone who was more interested in it. I have no idea what happened to the booklet, but it was the beginning of a life-long involvement with Russian that shaped my education, my professional life, and my subsequent romantic and family life.