War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 106 My grandfather was a hero

"Ms. Jana, can we open them?" Chris asked nervously.

"Of course." Jiana, who was also a little surprised, nodded and agreed without thinking, and then took a pair of slightly rusty pliers from the wall and handed it to Wei Ran.

After receiving nods from the two women, Wei Ran was the first to open the long box with Mika Raikkonen's name on it.

When he opened the slightly moldy wooden cover, the first thing he saw was a yellow kraft paper bag and bundles of letters that had been opened.Carefully opened the kraft paper bag, and inside was a death notice!
Putting these things one by one on the upside-down wooden cover, Wei Ran secretly glanced at the death notice, the name on it was exactly "Mika Raikkonen"!
Looking at those envelopes again, the senders are almost always "Sally from the village of Plassey" or "Ino from the village of Ahora", and although the addresses of the recipients are constantly changing, they are all without exception. Mika!
In no particular order, Chris and Jana each picked up an envelope, pulled out the letter paper full of handwriting from it, and silently read the contents on it.

And Wei Ran took out a very familiar TT33 pistol from the box. He remembered very clearly that this pistol was exactly what he gave to Mika at that time!
In addition to the pistol, there is also a set of Finnish military uniforms with bullet holes and black blood on the chest. Next to the bullet holes, there is not only a Level 2 Freedom Cross, but also a Freedom Cross in mourning. medal.

This kind of medal is officially issued by Finland to the families of the fallen soldiers, and it is not surprising that it appears here, because although the families of the fallen soldiers will receive the medal, they are not eligible to wear it on their bodies.

In addition to these, there is an SVT40 semi-automatic rifle that smells of gun oil and personal items such as a water bottle, flashlight and binoculars in this box.

At this moment, Chris held up some letter papers and exclaimed, "I saw my father's name on it! Tro Raikkonen, that's my grandfather's name! And a photo!"

Wei Ran and Jiana looked over involuntarily, and saw that in the black and white photo, it was a child who was still in swaddling arms, and Wei Ran also wrote from the letter paper full of words to Sally's letter to her husband. Mika's longing and worries about possible dangers on the battlefield.

"Victor, please open the other two boxes too." Chris translated Jana's words.

Wei Ran nodded, picked up the pliers again, and after thinking for a moment, opened the box with Sally Brin's name on it.

Like the box containing Mika's relics, except for a few dresses and some very Finnish accessories, most of the rest of the space is bundles of envelopes.

Put these envelopes on the upside-down lid again. In addition to the neatly folded clothes and paper bags containing jewelry, there is a thick stack of photo albums and a book that seems to have been wet with tears. Several diaries, as well as the Fei De brand camera that Wei Ran seized from the Soviet Red Army.

Gently flipping through the album, in the black and white photos, there are faithfully recorded group photos of Sally and Mika.In these photos, Mika has a healed scar on his face.But the happiness on the faces of the two young people was not affected in the slightest.

And the scenery behind each of these photos, in addition to the familiar Plassey Village, also includes a big city that looks fairly prosperous.Wei Ran couldn't help showing a smile on his face, it seems that Mika really took Sally to a big city for honeymoon.

Continue to turn back, in a photo of two people wearing traditional Finnish costumes for their wedding, Sally is holding a radio that is not too big in her arms, and Mika is sitting on the table with big tree branches at both ends. On the sleigh cart pulled by the reindeer, standing beside the reindeer is the old hunter Ino with a smile on his face.

From this photo onwards, the content recorded has a lot more breath of life. In the frame of the black and white lens, a wooden house gradually rises from the ground, and there is another one in Sally's arms who seems to be crying baby.

But in the next few photos, Mika appeared less and less, and more often it was Sally holding the growing child and standing at the door of their wooden house.

Even if there are occasional photos of Mika, most of them are wearing military uniforms, or standing in the wilderness, or sitting in a trench, or standing by the ruins of a certain village or city holding a rifle, even that one There seemed to be a face full of stubble forever, and there was also an unconcealable exhaustion and even a trace of boredom or hatred.

In the quiet warehouse, Chris gently closed the diary, suppressed his sobs, and muttered in Finnish, "So, it turns out that my grandfather was a hero, and I unexpectedly"

Wei Ran sighed secretly, closed the thick photo album in a daze, and put it back into Sally's wooden box.

Without urging, he picked up the pliers again and opened the wooden box belonging to the old hunter Ino.

In addition to a Mosin Nagant sniper rifle in this box, there is actually a SVT40 semi-automatic rifle with a scope. A handmade greeting card with the short words "The newest Christmas gift from the USSR, Happy Holidays to Papa Ino. - Mika. 1942"

Wei Ran laughed dumbfounded, then stretched his neck, looking at the photo album that Jiana had opened.In this album, the first one is the photo that Wei Ran took on the ice with the suspected commander of Division 163, and the next few photos are the group photos they took at Sally's house.

But what made him both feel lost and thankful was that there was no shadow of himself in these photos just like the negatives he got.

In the next few photos, most of them are old hunter Yinuo holding a tiger-headed little boy in front of various prey.Below each photo, the date it was taken is briefly written.

When the shooting time recorded in these photos came to the winter of 1949, there was also a child in the photos, and at the same time, it was emphatically written under one of the photos:
"On November 1949, 11, I had an extra grandson, and little Schuler had a younger brother. If there is a war in the future, I hope Tello can become a hero like his father. I also hope that the two poor Schuler and Tello The little guy who can trust each other like me and Mika."

Jana wiped away the tears that were about to overflow from the corners of her eyes, "Schuler. It's the name of my husband and his father. They are both called Shuler."

Wei Ran, who pretended not to understand Finnish, looked at the two growing children in the photo album that was being turned over, and couldn't help but think of the explanation that the old hunter Ino used to scald two Soviet Red Army prisoners to death that night. He said that his son was scalded to death by the Soviet Red Army with boiling water. That is to say, this child named Schuler had already become an orphan at that time?

Considering that the old hunter died of a stroke in 1952, it is not difficult to imagine what kind of ups and downs these two children, who may have just grown up or not yet grown up, have experienced. What the grandparents have been through.

Maybe they knew. Wei Ran thought to himself, maybe it was because of knowing that he chose to keep all this dust and didn't want to remember it.But anyway, at least now all the secrets are out.

Without disturbing Chris and Jana, who were thinking about their own thoughts, Wei Ran quietly exited the warehouse, sat silently on the wooden steps in front of the room, and took out the telescope from the cowhide book under the cover of his backpack. For a long time, I stared at the lake sparkling in the sun not far away.

Until more than an hour passed, Chris with red eyes walked out of the warehouse, "Victor, call your friends over to help."

"coming!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran quickly put away the binoculars, and called Jima, who had been standing on the side of the road smoking, to come over. Under Chris' command, he moved all three wooden boxes to the pickup truck that Jana had already driven.

"Let's go home," Chris said, getting into the station wagon.

"Honey, you found and that teacher."

Before Akeem finished speaking, Chris said viciously, "Don't mention that idiot teacher to me again, my grandfather is not only not him, but he is also the hero who killed him!"

"It deserves it!" Wei Ran murmured to himself, he didn't have the slightest sympathy for Akim who was carrying the pot without opening it.

Aggrieved by the yelling, Akim started the car aggrievedly, left Ahola Village with the pickup truck behind him, returned along the road along the lake, and finally returned to Pudong before lunch. Laxi village.

No one knew what Chris and Jana were talking about as they prepared lunch together in the kitchen.But after the meal, Chris took the initiative to let Akim take Jima to the city for an evening.

Jima naturally raised three hands in approval of such a good thing, and without waiting for Akim to say anything, he pulled him away from the house, drove the car and ran away without a trace.

After closing the door, Chris took out the Luger P08 pistol from the cabinet and put it on the table, and said apologetically to Wei Ran, who was left alone, "I'm sorry Victor, I'm afraid I can't give you this pistol .According to the diary left by my grandmother, it belongs to Ino Vatanen, and I want to return it to Jana."

"It's okay, it should be." Wei Ran said cheerfully. The pistol that Father Ino borrowed from Captain Korpi was worth a lot to him, but he was more expensive than the pistol sitting opposite him. Chris and Jana have a better idea of ​​where it came from and who should keep it.

"Thank you!"

After listening to Chris's translation, Jana immediately thanked her in the out-of-tune Chinese she learned before eating, and even stood up and bowed at 90 degrees in a serious manner.

We in Huaxia don't like this kind of farewell thanks.
Wei Ran hurriedly got up to avoid the other party's bow, and a series of polite words came out of his mouth, for fear that the other party's bow would send him away.

Under Chris's "completely redundant" but necessary translation, the two sides sat down again, and before Wei Ran was ready to say anything, Jana pushed the SVT40 semi-automatic rifle that had been placed on the table in advance to Wei Ran.

"This is?" Wei Ran looked at Jiana who was sitting opposite him, not knowing.

"This rifle symbolizes the unbreakable friendship between Raikkonen and Vatanen." Jana waited for Chris to translate, and continued, "Victor, after discussing with Chris, I decided to give it to you as a gift. Thank you for the gift of helping our two families rebuild this friendship."

"This..." Wei Ran was about to open his mouth to refuse, but he didn't expect the tattoo on the tiger's mouth on his left hand to become hot without warning!
　No more updates, but the number of words is the same as the addition, you are welcome to call me **.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)