Monday, June 15, 2009

Meeting the veterans




After the war memorial day we felt it would be good to visit the remaining veterans or widows and bring an aid packet.


There were 4 veterans and 6 widows still alive in our village.


This man has been blind for 5 or 6 years but was very lucid and spoke some moving stories of his war experience.


However like all the veterans and widows we visited he spoke more of the harrowing experiences of the famine that took place after the war in Moldova.


This widow spoke of how they had to try to hide their wheat harvest as the Russians came to Moldova and took all the harvest to tkae back to Russia.

Three of her siblings died of starvation.

Unbelievably they ate weeds every day - to fill their stomachs.

They even searched out the mouse nests to see if any wheat had been stolen and stored by the mice.

Others told of a rich family in the village that would sell a golden spoon for a loaf of bread and went through all their riches during this time to keep the family alive.

I wonder how much of this news got through to the post war West?

Pastor Mark