DISPATCH FROM MOZZA - A MESSAGE FROM THE MOZZA TRIBUNE TO THE STAFF

FROM JIMMY DOLAN, MOZZA TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Today, Tuesday, at least I think it’s Tuesday, marks the sixth evening of the Nancy Silverton/Maker’s Mark collaboration known as the Restaurant Workers’ Relief (RWR) program.

In the previous five nights, Mozza has handed out over 1,300 dinners to roughly 700 very appreciative people.  They start lining up around 4:30 for the program that begins at 5:30 p.m. sharp. 

The bizarre thing is that of the 700 laid-off restaurant workers only about 20 have been actual Mozza folks, people who worked – and WILL work again – at either Pizzeria Mozza, Osteria Mozza, Mozza 2Go, Chi Spacca or even the office.

What up, my peoples? You got too much foolish pride to come for a chicken plate and/or some lasagna? The toothpaste and cereal we giving away not up to your standards. Stumptown coffee not good enough? Or like several Mozza Corner workers  I have talked to, you feel that other people are hurting worse than yourself and you don’t want to take that food from them?

Forget all that and just come over to Mozza and get two dinners, get some supplies, and most importantly say hi to Nancy. Nancy likes to give the food to the people she doesn’t know, but she LOVES to see and give you some food. The people she works with, the people she WILL work with.

Yes, there’s a line stretching down Highland almost to Clinton. However, Mozza chief of security, Capt. Miller of the United States 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, has made it possible for you not to wait in that line. Text Capt. Miller at (213) 700-1960 or get to Alan and they will arrange for you to go in the alley and come in the back way.  Sometimes, that’s the best way

Stone serious.

Jimmy Dolan

ALSO  If you want to share your stories with the Tribune about what you’ve been doing, how you’ve been coping with this madness, then email me at makmak47@gmail.com

DE CECCO PASTA, MAKER'S MARK WHISKEY STEPPIN' UP WITH NANCY AT MOZZA FOR RESTAURANT WORKER'S RELIEF

Friday morning in the back Mozza parking spot, only three of the five spaces were open. The other two were taken up, Italian style - not with a Lamborghini or Ferrari - but with pallets and pallets of De Cecco dried pasta, donated to the Corner by way of Chef’s Warehouse.

The pasta will make its was tonight to scores of laid off restaurant worker’s as Mozza’s Chi Spacca serves as the forward operating base of a relief program during these unprecedented times. Kicked off by, get this, Maker’s Mark whiskey with a $50,000 donation, about 150 very appreciative Los Angeles restaurant employee received two dinners of lasagna, potatoes, salad and an assortment of supplies from diapers, toilet paper to baby wipes and toothpaste.

Manning the front distribution desk was Spacca Sheriff Francis Sebastian, the great x7 grandson of Genghis Khan, along with Shayna Kaye Milazzo, Mozza’s storied office manager and Kate Elizabeth Green, Nancy’s right hand woman. Green, it should be noted, looked about as stylish as one could look wearing a mask, save perhaps Ruth Reichl in a black version.

As the LAPD came by to give their full approval, Mozza’s head of security, Capt. John Mason of the British SAS, walked the line, reassuring people that there was enough for all, as long as the line didn’t go beyond 150 people. Everyone was behaving, respecting that “social distancing” and thankful of the project. They heaped praise on Nancy, who told them they should be thanking Maker’s Mark whiskey, her new favorite booze.

Credit also goes to Edward Lee, the Louisville chef first approached by Maker’s Mark who pointed them to Nancy. His LEE Initiative ( www.leeinitiative.org) is on the front line of the Restaurant Worker’s Relief (RWR) project. Also to John Magazino of Chef’s Warehouse who was texting Nancy as soon as he heard about the project, eager to help.

The RWR project continues tonight at 5:30 p.m. . and will last at least three weeks. It’ll longer if more people like television producer Betsy Beers, who donated cash last night, step up. So come on, step on up. Koufax might be pitching. but he’s goin’ easy on those with a kind heart and a generous wallet.

MOZZA/MAKER'S MARK COLLABORATION BEGINS TONIGHT; MOZZA 2G0 EXPANDED MENU INCLUDES D.I.Y. PIZZA KIT

When Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Sunday night that all restaurants in Los Angeles would close, everyone on the Mozza corner agreed it was something that, sadly, had to be done.

“Sunday night i had to look my restaurant family in the eye and let them know i no longer had work for them. Mayor Garcetti had said we had to close. This didn’t come as a surprise as I knew it was something that was gonna happen, that had to happen, done.But, telling my staff was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my career.”

A snippet of good news came to the Mozza Corner on Wednesday when it was announced that Maker’s Mark Kentucky Bourbon had donated $50,000 for Nancy to provide free dinners to laid off Los Angeles restaurant employees. Starting today, Thursday, those providing a recent pay stub can get two free dinners as well as needed supplies such as toilet paper, baby diapers and other items.

The menu will be meat or vegetarian lasagna with mashed potatoes and salad.

##

 As concerns and precautions designed to slow the spread are expanded, Nancy has taken to expanding the menu items available at Mozza2Go, the only to-go establishment ever honored by the United Nations.

The following enticing secondi, formerly only offered at Spacca and Osteria are available at reduced prices.

 Grilled ‘Moorish’ lamb shoulder chops with mint, yogurt and – unnecessarily – lemon. $23.

 Porcini rubbed Short Ribs with salsa verde,  scallions - $23

 Grilled Lamb Sausage with Calbrian chile slasa, roasted peppers, onions. - $15

 Roasted Sonoma Lamb Rack with Persian lime, tahini, grilled broccoli - $28

In addition, Mozza2Go is now offering a ‘Pizza Kit’ which is pizza dough, tomato sauce, basil and mozzarella so folks can make their own margarita pizza at home during these unprecedented  times.

NANCY SILVERTON AND MAKER'S MARK WHISKEY COLLABORATE TO FEED LOS ANGELES' UNEMPLOYED RESTAURANT WORKERS COMMUNITY

Los Angeles chef Nancy Silverton, a long-time red wine aficionado is about to become a whiskey drinker. Maker’s Mark, to be exact.

The Kentucky bourbon maker reached out Wednesday to announced a partnership with Nancy for a $50,000 funded project that will be used to buy food and other supplies and feed - for free - the masses of recently laid-off restaurant employees. The food will be served out of Mozza2Go. The program will start Thursday night. Initially, it will last two weeks, but with extra funding will go on beyond that.

Special thanks goes to Edward Lee, chef/owner of restaurants of 610 Magnolia, MilkWood, and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, Kentucky and author of the cookbooks Smoke & Pickles and Buttermilk Graffiti. Edward Lee was the first chef Maker’s Mark approached and he recommended Nancy to them. For that, Nancy is honored.

The Mozza/Maker’s Mark project will likely be very similar to Lee’s at his 610 Magnolia restaurant. Every night hundreds of to-go meals, in addition to items like diapers, wipes, baby food, canned foods and cereals, toilet paper and Tylenol will be offered seven days a week until otherwise noted and pick-up times will be from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Workers will be required to provide a recent pay stub or other proof of restaurant employment.

The Maker’s Mark collaboration will also be implemented in several U.S. cities.

According to confidential sources, Silverton texted Edward Lee this morning that she was “honored” and “I won’t let you down”. Of that, there is no doubt.

TOM HANKS AND RITA WILSON LAND THE GREATEST ROLES OF THEIR CAREERS

The best news I heard this wayward week was that Tom Hanks and his Rita Wilson have the Corona virus. Talk about some comforting information in troubled times. And I sincerely mean that.

Wednesday night, I got the following text. “Tom Hanks, wife have virus”. If it had been sent from many people I know, I would have dismissed it as stupid. But, this text was from Saji Mathai, a very respected former Los Angeles Times copy editor whose life is devoted to accuracy.

I was numbed by the news. Tom Hanks and Rita have Corona? My neck radar tingled in the bad way when danger looms.  It was the Rock Hudson moment, the  Magic Johnson moment for the virus.  If Tom Hanks could get it, then no one is safe.  Gloom descend hard.

But, then, less than 30 minutes later, a strange feeling came to me. A feeling that made me kinda ashamed, even borderline cowardly, like that soldier cowering in the stairwell after the German slowly pushes the knife into the chest of the American in “Saving Private Ryan”.  Well, maybe not that bad. Still, the feeling was this; I was glad Tom Hanks got the virus. If anyone - and I’m talking anyone on Earth - should get it, Tom Hanks is the ideal person.

Certainly not because I wish him and Rita harm, but the opposite. It was because I like him so much, I respect him so much and, most importantly in these times, I trust him completely. The guy exudes a nearly long gone quality of pure honesty, of being a good person. I’m not saying he’s the only one with those qualities. Hell,  I even occasionally have them, but I am saying no one is better suited to play the role to lead us out of this uncertainty. To battle the uncharted seas, the mystery invasion.

In the small Tuscan village of Panzano in Chianti, my friend Kim Wicks, whose husband is the most famous butcher in Italy, Dario Cecchini – and who are quarantined there – was borderline thrilled to hear the news about Hanks. “In one fell swoop he has become the ambassador to de-stigmatized the whole thing. We can all watch him unveil the mystery. Because it is the unknown that freaks us all out and now, through Tom and Rita, we will go from uncertainty to some certainty. What a godsend.”

Tom and Rita will be our war correspondents sending dispatches from the front line. Finally there’ll be tweets that the world will await. Tweets that will matter to the world.

This morning I saw a tweet and photo from Tom  – with Rita looking fine as ever – and it finished with a spin on the classic line from “A League of Their Own”; “Remember, despite all the current events, there is no crying in baseball.”

There’s no crying, but there’s a whole lotta rooting. And I’m thinking, in all of history of the entire world  never has ever been more people rooting for two people to beat anything as much as they will be for Tom and Rita. There’s usually two sides to a fight. Either you want Ali or you want Frazier. Either you want Brazil or you want Argentina. Usually, as in war, there’s a bad guy, but the thing is, that bad guy thinks you’re the bad guy.

No one thinks Tom Hanks is the bad guy. The health minister in Iran, the sharecropper in Alabama, the yak farmer in Tibet, the dock worker in the Ivory Coast, the brain surgeon in Kyoto, the nurse in Bogota, the line cook from Oaxaca at Pizzeria Mozza, the point guard for the Golden State Warriors, the immigrant from Albania who works in Copenhagen, the Mercedes Formula One driver from England, everyone - other than, of course, some people who want the end of the world - are rooting for Tom and Rita.

Three years and four months ago, the day after Trump was elected,  I wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times  urging people who said they were moving to Canada if he won to stay and fight. I wrote the piece because I stumbled onto watching “Saving Private Ryan” the day after the election and realized we, as a nation, had been through so much worse than having some buffoon in the White House.  We had been through World War II and Capt. Miller ( Hanks ) was gonna save Private Ryan, come hell or high. In the movie, Capt. Miller does save Ryan, but dies on a bridge.

In this real life movie, the sequel to Saving Private Ryan, the role of Tom Hanks was born to play, the greatest role of his and Rita’s life, the ending will be different.

Just as Tom Hanks ends his tweets, let me say  “hanks”. Hanks a lot.

'LUCKY TO BE ALIVE" CHEF WALTER MANZKE SUFFERS SERIOUS INJURIES AFTER BEING HIT BY A CAR ON PICO

Shortly before noon last Wednesday, renowned L.A. chef Walter Manzke parked his car in front of his soon-to-open bistro Bicyclette on Pico Boulevard near Century City.

What happened next he doesn’t remember. He’s lucky he doesn’t. If he did, he would have a horrible memory played over and over in his mind.  As it is, both Walter and his wife Margarita – as well as friends, doctors and bystanders – agree he is lucky to be alive.

A wayward car struck him brutally as he walked from his car to the sidewalk of the upcoming Bicyclette, (at the old Sotto site.) The front of car struck his body which smashed into the windshield which rocketed him to the sidewalk where he landed. The driver stopped.

Waiting for him on the sidewalk was chef Guillaume Guedj of the two -star Passage 53 in Paris, who rushed to him. “Guillaume thought he was dead,” said Melissa Koujakian, the GM of Manzke’s flagship restaurant, Republique. Covered in Walter’s blood, Guedj called 911.

Shortly after, Melissa got a phone call and got to Walter’s wife legendary pastry chef Margarita Manzke, (of oatmeal raisin cookie fame ) The two immediately  drove to Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

Walter had suffered collapsed lungs, several crushed ribs, a broken collarbone head and face injuries.

Twenty hours later, Walter woke up. “I had no idea what happened,” said Walter, who was transferred out of ICU Sunday night.

 Walter Manzke said he had mixed feelings about the female driver who hit him.

 “On one hand I feel happy she didn’t kill me, but on the other what if I had my wife or my children with me and she hit them?”

 Still, Walter was in good spirits when this reporter visited him Monday. He even joked “If you came here hoping to get some of my wife’s oatmeal raisin cookies you’re out of luck. They’re all gone. The nurses got them.”

To “Black Sam" A Letter to Nipsey Hussle's Brother From Imprisoned Rollin' 60s Peacemaker Mustafa, aka Li'l Cat

NOTE - About 25 years ago I met “Li’l Cat”, once aka Brian Long, now aka Mustafa. He was from Rollin’ 60s and he had realized the futility of black gang on black gang violence and began, with a few others, to start a movement to end the relentless cycle of bloodshed in Los Angeles, particularly on the black Westside.

I wrote about him in a 1998 L.A. Times story when he and community activist Malik Spellman - along with Mustafa’s older brother Kevin “Big Cat” Doucette - spoke to warring Blood factions who were battling each other in Inglewood. Here’s that story. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-apr-05-me-36267-story.html (And yes, that wasn’t a typo. it was Crips mediating a Bloods - Inglewood Family, Neighborhood Piru - battle.)

Two years earlier, writer David Ferrell wrote about him in a Times article entitled “A Dogged Pursuit of Peace on the Streets” Here’s is that piece https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-10-mn-32953-story.html

Mustafa stumbled many years later and wound up in prison for an attempted. The district attorney’s office went back to a 1979 barber shop robbery he was convicted of when 18 years old and struck him out. We’ve remained friends. I always thought an often pathetic trait of many gang members was how they forgot their imprisoned so-called homies. I’ve been to hoods from Watts to Compton to Southwest L.A. where gang members ask me about their owe homeboys locked up. I usually reply with “Why don’t you write him? I’m sure he’d appreciate that. ” If you’ve read this far,, LI’l Cat’s mailing address is at the bottom. of this piece.)

Anyway, I wrote to Li’l Cat recently and he sent me back a letter and also a letter to Nipsey Hussle’s brother, Black Sam. I asked him if it was okay to print some of it and he gave me the approval. Here it is, in part..

Sept. 14, 2019

Black Sam.

Peace & respect and my deepest condolences on the loss of our beloved Nipsey Hussle. My name from the turf is Li’l Cat. My brother is Big Cat. I’ve been locked behind enemy lines for the past 18 years. The young homie Nipsey was about 15 years old when I got locked up. However we have a lot in common. I, too was a community activist like Nips. I also grew up on 3rd Ave down the block from 59th Street School. My young comrade out there was Kev Mac who spends time up there at Marathon.

The reason and purpose I’m gettin at you, besides paying respects, is to let you know that your brother was a divine soul. sent with a spiritual purpose, which he accomplished.

I first heard of Nip when I was in Pelican Bay back in early 2007 or 2008. I was proud to hear a young homie speaking my turf language. Glad to hear someone speaking what we go through trying to survive. in these grimy cutthroat “Sixty NHC” streets.

However, when I left the streets, I had changed my thought process about our conditions and how much damage was attributed to the racial system and how much self perpetuated.

My change in outlook occurred when I was doing a violation from my first state prison term. I had paroled in 87, went back for a violation in ‘88. I was in San Quentin and got word that two of my closest road dogs, “Big Fee” and Li’L Looney” were killed. I prepared to come out on a homicidal murder spree. But, I was devastated to learn that the homicides were committed by so-called “homies”. That was the beginning of the Front hood-Overhill wars. in which several lives had been lost. I had to do a lot of soul searching at that point. Murdering my so-called own homies was not what I signed up for. Burying loved ones who were killed by loved ones was an oxymoronic thing that had no future for anyone.

I became discontented with the hood politics and went on some Black militant type shit, complete with black fatigues, boots and working out., running with pit bulls, fully strapped for anybody.

Then the Rodney King beating and not -guilty verdict and the riots of ‘92 had me on the re-build the black community trip, had me on the pro blackness trip. .I spoke in front of the City Council about the lack of justice for Blacks, the lack of programs for the youth, the lack of job opportunities which would cut down on drug dealing and gang activities.

Then Jim Brown called me to his compound in the Hollywood Hills about a business opportunity. They wanted to put a shoe store/community center in the Sixties on Florence. Two brothers from Grape Street, Ray Ray and High T, were involved, but the location in the Sixties would need some reputable Sixies involved. That’s how we started the Playground Sportswear and Community Center. Myself and the homie Kieta Rock hosted Bill Clinton there.

Then I started doing the Westside version of the Truce they had in Watts. we started getting recognition for that and was bringing homicide rates down on the Westside. Reporters were doing stories ( see above ) about our desire to stop the black-on-black killings. The police was at odds with us cause they wanted credit for saving the lives, when they were the ones instigating the feuds.

I started studying and learning that Blacks are not natural enemies of one another, but we are a spiritual Godly people. ( John 10- 32-35) “Ye are Gods”, ( {Psalms 82-6) “God came among the Assembly of Gods.”

Nipsel Hussle came among among the Assembly of Gods, but they had no knowledge of self. Still he remained to show and prove by example the power of redemption and transformation. Black Sam, your brother was a shining example of building bridges and focusing on taking care of the community and those in it. He accomplished what I was attempting to do for the hood. I thank the universe for the God “Nips the Great”.

Nipsey’s music will continue to inspire all those who desire to “RISE” up from the cutthroat grimy conditions. (R.I.S.E. was the name of my organization, Raising Intelligent Strong Economics), He showed that those of us misunderstood and labeled Hoodstas and Thugs,all have a spiritual purpose in this brief life, Like he so introspectively stated “You can walk on water, just don’t look at your feet.” Basically, we are a strong spiritual people and can do whatever we set our mind to Just don’t doubt yourself.”

One of the most poignant songs that made me realize his divine spirit is “Who Detached Us”

Black Sam,

Thank you for your time, with love & respect. Long live the spirit of Nipsey Hussle,

Your big homie, Cat2, aka Mustafa Nakhi Allah

##

There is more to this letter, but I’ll get it to Black Sam

This link has the lyrics to Who Detached Us” - https://genius.com/Nipsey-hussle-who-detached-us-lyrics

To write to Brian Li’l Cat Mustafa Long address letters like this:

Brian Anthony Long T-72027, Valley State Prison, P.O. Box 92, Chowchilla, Calif. 93610-0092

Money can be sent through jpay.com

Mustafa aka Li’l Cat

Five Other Battles The Kurds Were Not With The United States Army

Wednesday, as President Don Trump defended his call to let Turks attack the very Kurds who had aided the U.S. tremendously against ISIS in Syria. As part of his rational, Trump stated that Kurds “are fighting for their land. They didn’t help us in the second World War. They didn’t help us in Normandy, for example.”

A rapid investigation by Krikorian Writes revealed shocking news that the Kurds, in addition to being suspiciously absent at Omaha Beach in Normandy, were also not fighting along side U.S. forces at nearly a a half dozen of the most important battles in America’s history. Here is a brief summary of battles where the Kurds were NOT fighting along side American forces, both Special and Regular. .

5. “Battle of The Alamo”, San Antonio, Texas, 1836. In the battle of The Alamo - made famous in movies, songs and books, - as roughly 200, mainly Texans, soldiers fought off vastly larger Mexican forces for 13 days,, no Kurdish soldiers joined Davy Crockett and other Americans in the battle.

4. Battle of the Bulge - from Dec. 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945, the United States aided by World War Two allies, fought and defeated the Germans in their last major offensive on the Western Front. The Kurdish Army did not participate. Nor did the Kurdish Air Force.

3. Battle of South Central Los Angeles, - April 29 to May;3, 2004. Starting at Florence and Normandie, the brutal street war of Los Angeles left not only the city, but the entire United States in shock. Once again. the Kurdish Army was not there. A war expert later stated “Maybe they were afraid to go south of Slauson.”

2. Battle of Iwo Jima. - American forces landed on this Pacific Island on Feb.19. 1945 fought for it brutally until March 26, 1945. More than 6,800 soldiers died there. None of them were in the Kurdish Army. Why? Well, the Kurds sat his one out, even though the battle was less than 13,000 kilometers away from their territory.

1. Battle of Baltimore - This five day battle during the War of 1812 saw British Forces attempt to take land and sea strongholds from the American forces . Notice I wrote “American forces”, not American and Kurdish forces because they weren’t there. Big surprise. A Kurdish statesman stated that his army would have been there, but got confused by the name of the war and the dates of the battle. The War was the “War of 1812”, but the Battle of Baltimore was actually fought in 1814.

A ,much more famous was the 2nd Battle of Baltimore which was depicted in the show “The Wire” and featured Stringer Bell, Omar, Avon and Marlo, among others.

!

Russian Men Living In L.A. Who Fought At The Battle of Stalingrad

2004

The days are quiet now for several Russian men who live modestly in West Hollywood and Santa Monica. Little excitement passes their way. But once in a while they get together and talk about what they did more than 60 years ago near the Volga River in Russia.

These rare men fought and survived in what many historians consider to be the greatest and bloodiest combat in all of history - The Battle of Stalingrad.

Up to two million people died there from August, 1942 to Feb. 2, 1943. When it was over, the once proud and mighty 6th Army of Germany - as well as the Nazi aura of invincibility - was like the city of Stalingrand itself; in ruins.

Some of the veterans, brought to America decades ago by sons and daughters. sat recently in the Hollywood Boulevard offices of the Russian newspaper “Panorama” and talked about the ferocity that was Stalingrad.

West Hollywood resident Vladimir Barkon was not quite 17 when his military training was cut short and he received orders to “get on a train.”

“At first we didn’t know where we were going, so we weren’t scared,” said Barkon, 79, a short, stocky man with the dour look of a Brezhnev-era politburo member. Then one September night, Barkon and about 800 others were told they were being sent to the front. “There was no fear. Absolutely nyet.”

The fear would come later.

On, Sept. 29, 1942 Vladimir Barkon crossed the Volga.

““The river was on fire,” said Barkon who is vice president of the Association of Russian Veterans. “We crossed as fast as we could. Many people died on the boat.”

After crossing the river and entering the shattered city, the Russians cowered from German Stuka dive bombers whose engine’s screaming howl was utterly terrifying.

“They made such a horrible noise,” said Moysev Duginsky, 81. “The Germans were blowing up everything. What was left to defend was already destroyed.”

They defended the infamous Tractor Factory, scene of the most horrific close quarters fighting. For these Russians life was, as stated in Anthony Beevor’s book “Stalingrad - The Fateful Siege”- “an endless hell of automatic fire, sniper shots, artillery explosions, Stuka dive bombers, Russian Katyusha rockers, heavy smoke, rubble, hunger, sleepless nights and the stench of death.”

Many consider the battle to be the “turning point” of the war, including the United States President at the time. The Russians proudly show off a copy of a proclamation.

“In the name of the people of the United States of America I present this scroll to the city of Stalingrad to commemorate our admiration for the gallant defender whose courage, fortitude and devotion during the siege in 1942 and ‘1943 will inspire forever the hearts and minds of free people. Their glorious victory stemmed the tide of the invasion and marked the turning point of the war of the Allied Nations against the force of aggression.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 19, 1944.

“You see,” said Barkon, who was wounded in the tractor factory and later worked as a construction manager, “The Americans know all about Stalingrad. But, they pretend they don’t. Here, all you hear about is Normandy and how they beat the Germans there.”

Attempts to find German survivors of the battle were unsuccessful. “I don’t know anyone who survived Stalingrad who lives here,” said Michael Wolff, press attache of the German Consulate of Los Angeles.

Mikail Volman thinks back on the German enemy.

“I remember the German soldiers were so full of pride when they were attacking,” said Volman, 80, who has lived with his wife in Santa Monica since 1992. “And I remember how pitiful they looked when they were captured.”

During the United States’ march toward Baghdad, Volman heard reports how the city might be “defended like Stalingrad.”

Volamn and Barkon laugh at that thought.

“Only people who have no idea of what Stalingrand was could make such a comparison,” said Volman. who became an electrical engineer after the war. “Don’t even ask me about the weather. I still get shivers.”

One of the Russians brought his proof. Like the Burgess Meredith character Mickey in “Rocky” who carries around an old newspaper clipping of his glory days, Makail Lembersriy removes a folded piece of paper from his worn brown wallet. With a nod and the barest crack of a smile, he hands the yellowed paper to a translator. It is a certificate stating that Lembersriy, a sergeant in the 62nd Army of Russia fought at Stalingrad. The old soldier retrieves the paper, folds it carefully and works it back into the wallet.

Some of the men showed off medals they had earned during World War II. Irene Parker, the editor of Panorama, deeply admires them. “These men are rare,” said Parker. “Nine out of 10 of our fighters were killed in Stalingrad. It is not common to see men such as these. It wasn’t hard for the government to give them medals. There weren’t many medals to give out because there weren’t many men who survived.”