Wore the Wall Out

by mc

Vintage snapshot photo of a wall against which German soldiers in WWII executed prisoners

Circa 1945 snapshot inscribed on rear as below (click to enlarge)

Vintage snapshot rear inscription detailing German executions during WWII

“This wall is where the Germans — them up and shot them. Damn(?) near wore the wall out.”

The 70th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day, and a small reminder of the immeasurable debt owed to so many in a blurry snapshot with some writing on the back.

Coverage of the day often understandably concentrates on the tremendous celebrations that broke out over much of the UK, the United States and Canada as well as parts of Europe, but here is a more understated anecdote found on the website of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “In the book Days of Victory by Ted and Alex Barris, medic Ernie Long remembered hearing the news of the ceasefire. ‘We sat there in stunned silence,’ he said, ‘looking at each other until one of us said what we were all thinking — ‘The war is over, and I’m still alive!’. No cheers. No shouts. Just a shocked realization that we had made it through the war.'”