The Russian arrival

**AMTG** · 03-06-2012, 09:55 AM

A parcel arrived one summers day, it was from Russia and I had been eagerly awaiting its arrival, I opened the parcel and was greeted with a item wrapped carefully in Russian news papers, I could here some rattling of loose peices of rustvasbi carefully unwrapped this precious item, before me sat a rusty helmet, decaying and full of holes..I was extatic, there it was a German helmet from the famous battle of Stalingrad, there was evidence of battle damage, the unfortunate soldat must have died from the wounds.....it was a humbling and exciting moment...I carefully placed this rusting peice of armour on my shelf with my other more complete combat helmets, all with a story....but little did I know this particular helmets story was going to slap me in the face in a extraordinary way. I was sitting alone in my lounge, occasionally gazing at this tragic peice of history....I heard a shuffling, and my eyes were drawn to the helmet....in front of it stood a man, a man in a disheveled uniform, overcoat done up tightly with a tattered scarf around his neck, his face gaunt from hunger and exposure to the harsh Russian winter....I stared at this figure as he looked mournfully at my rusty relic....he was confused, unsure of his surroundings...I heard him speak in English..." where is this" " what happened to my helmet" there was obvious nervousness in his voice at the sight of the state his helmet was in, I said " your in Austrslia, it 2012", he said " no it's 1942 and I need to find my friends, I need my helmet, how did you get this" I chose my words carefully, " kamerade, you are dead, you died 70 years ago" he looked at his hands, felt the contours of his face, looked at his rotting uniform, and said " I thought I may be, but I need my helmet to rejoin my friends" I looked at this poor soul and said, " take it, it's yours, it belongs to you" he reached up and ad his transparent hands grabbed the helmet, a image of his complete helmet appeared superimposed over the rusty relic, he placed this vision on his head, and his back straightened, and slowly the image I saw changed o a proud soldier, in a neat and trim uniform...he turned to me, smiled and said..."many thanks, I can go home now" he did a crisp turn to the left and faded as he marched proudly home......I still have this relic, and I will always look after it.

Believe it or not, this is based on a experience I had....

**ph3s** · 03-06-2012, 10:07 AM

nice. Do you have a degree in 'creative writing'?

Next time you see him, please ask him for me one question

What on the earth he was doing in Stalingrad in 1942?

**AMTG** · 03-06-2012, 10:10 AM

No, I dont have any experience in writing, just had an urge to write the story...I'm hoping he is happy back with his kameraden

I have urges to write about ome other items I have, this was my first attempt at a story around an item, based on a actual experience! Not thst I have experiences with most of my items

**Dimas** · 03-06-2012, 10:34 AM

approx a 90 % of the helmets found on the battlefield was damaged without the owners

**AMTG** · 03-06-2012, 10:41 AM

It is just a story I decided to write about the feeling of not knowing what an item we have has been through and letting your imagination wander, and the possibility, however remote, that somehow a soul is attached to some of these relics, I did have an experience similar to this, not exactly as described in my first attempt at creative writing, but it does make me wonder, and I thought this peice of writing some of you may enjoy

**big ned** · 03-06-2012, 11:23 AM

Keep taking the med's....

**AMTG** · 03-06-2012, 12:16 PM

It's a story meant to be thought provoking on where our items we collect have come from, forget the " based on something that I experienced "

**Glenn66** · 03-06-2012, 12:46 PM

A nice story none the less

**AMTG** · 03-06-2012, 12:48 PM

Thanks

**Panzer 3** · 03-06-2012, 01:33 PM

Hi AMTG,
The story is thought provoking you should finish it, i actually collect battlefield relic helmets from across europe,
my reason is that they all tell there own story. After researching the battles and holding the objects you can only imagine what it was really like, Combat is harsh today but then it was on a different scale. I have attached a pic of some of my relics to show, one including my Stalingrad relic. hope you like them.
Dave.