After visiting Grandmother’s grave, father took the children to the war memorial. A soldier carved from stone lay on top of a stone platform as if asleep, the steel helmet still on his head. Oak wreaths with ribbons and flowers and roses decorated the solemn memorial.
The children are deeply moved. They take off their caps and look silently at the dead hero…
What is that? Heini asks.
This is a memorial for the many thousands of heroes who died for the fatherland, father says. They died so that we could live. One was my best friend and comrade, who fell and died at my side…
In golden letters on a black ribbon stood the words: “I had a comrade.”
The children were silent on the way home, but the words of the song went through their minds, a song that Lene already sings in school:
