—— Thirty-Five Years Later ——205head of reconnaissance (the division was in Kaliningrad). And after
the division was disbanded he was deputy head of artillery general
staff in the 36th Guards Rifle Corps. In 1950 he entered the Frunze
military academy. Subsequent service took him to various units
and various posts, and now he was commandant of the Moscow
Kremlin. ‘It looks like he’s the only one from the entire division
who is still serving in the army,’ I thought.
At the end of the letter Sergei insistently invited me to call in
when in Moscow, and gave his address and telephone number. On
arriving in Moscow in 1981 I called the number I knew. ‘Kremlin
commandant Shornikov,’ I heard the familiar voice over the
receiver. Barely containing my excitement, I introduced myself.
In literally a few minutes I was in Sergei’s arms in his Kremlin
office. We kissed and... the intervening thirtyfive years, old age,
wounds, and everything else seemed to vanish – and there before
me, at a massive table covered with numerous telephones, sat the
same young, cheery, goodnatured lad of old – Sergei Shornikov.