Picture of the day

[johnny1984]

Sometimes a guy just can't win. Damned few options available to a person when they live under an authoritarian government.

There used to be an old Polish gentleman who lived in the old folk's lodge in my home town. He was in a bunker at the beach on D-Day. It was that or be shot, so he chose self preservation. He was nearly killed four times that day, and still lived long enough to die of old age in Alberta.

Best landlord I ever had was a sweetheart of an old German who'd been a baker for the army in der ost. He was captured in 1945, shippedtoSiberia, and was one of the last guys released in 1955.

When I was in Lahr in the late 70's we had a running club at school that would go out on lunches of the Kaserne and into the forest.
There was an old gentleman that always handed candy out to the "Kanadische Kinder".
Got to know him over the years and he was captured in Stalingrad and released in the early 50's. We have to remember not all Germans were Nazis.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

We have to remember not all Germans were Nazis

The majority of Germans were not Nazis and the majority of German soldiers served their country with honour the same way our soldiers did.

 

[grelmar]

Sometimes a guy just can't win. Damned few options available to a person when they live under an authoritarian government.

There used to be an old Polish gentleman who lived in the old folk's lodge in my home town. He was in a bunker at the beach on D-Day. It was that or be shot, so he chose self preservation. He was nearly killed four times that day, and still lived long enough to die of old age in Alberta.

Best landlord I ever had was a sweetheart of an old German who'd been a baker for the army in der ost. He was captured in 1945, shippedtoSiberia, and was one of the last guys released in 1955.

When I was in Lahr in the late 70's we had a running club at school that would go out on lunches of the Kaserne and into the forest.
There was an old gentleman that always handed candy out to the "Kanadische Kinder".
Got to know him over the years and he was captured in Stalingrad and released in the early 50's. We have to remember not all Germans were Nazis.

The majority of Germans were not Nazis and the majority of German soldiers served their country with honour the same way our soldiers did.

Sometimes you just have to ride that tiger, and hope it tires before you do.

 

[grelmar]

"I don't see those two explanations as mutually exclusive."

A lot of people cry in battle and under very stressful conditions, and somehow, they seem to function, and no one around them notices or says anything about it later.

Good insight.

Worked with a guy doing oilfield maintenance out by Drum back before safety was invented. Great big hump. Could lift anything, flip it on his shoulder, carry it where you needed it carried. Thing is, his "grunt" when he lifted something really heavy was more was more like the kind of high pitched sigh a young lady might make in the throws of passion. So naturally he earned the nickname "Martha." If he was struggling to lift something, the crew would egg him on, "Come on, Martha, put your t!ts behind it!" That sort of thing.

Of course, Drum... Oilfield... Before safety was invented... Fridays started early with steaks and beer and went downhill from there, with a good chance of at least one or two barfights before Monday. Turns out, Martha would squeal and scream like a 13 year old girl who'd snuck into Friday the 13th when tables started tipping and glass started breaking. And you absolutely, 100%, were glad he was on your crew when things got spicy. He was a wrecking ball.

He admitted that the screams of terror were real... He was terrified whenever a fight broke out. But he'd step up and step in anyway, screaming the whole time.

Like the pr!cks we were, we'd razz him mercilessly about it come Monday in the shop. He didn't mind. He knew where it came from and what we really meant.