Taken in St. Petersburg, Russia on Nevskiy Prospekt. This man was a soldier who served in WW II. He came to see old friends and after an hour, realizes he's the only one left from his unit.
I just can't imagine. Drudging up your memories. Your friends who lost their life in battle. One day you were laughing over a meal, the next a shell hit where they were instead of you. Bullets whizzing past you, just living off your adrenaline, knowing that at any time one could blow right through you and you'll just stop.
And then, decades later, hundreds clap and cheer while you walk down the street, but nobody walks beside you. You can't talk or share with anyone because no one is left, and you just sob.
Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it fell into my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and softly call
"Good night and joy be to you all"
from The Parting Glass
This is so sad. It must have been heartbreaking to have no one left who was in your unit. I was in tears reading this.
ReplyDeleteThe photo says it all-the emotion if being the only one left....so so sad.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see this it has me in tears. How lonely he must have been. I am sure the spirits of his unit was there with him.
ReplyDelete