“Toothbrush” - A Travelling Wartime Russian Bear
Из воспоминаний о Второй мировой войне, о союзниках и их сотрудничестве в войне за Победу (в Европе и США День победы отмечают 8 мая - в день подписания капитуляции фашистской Германии)
When I was very young I could never be found without my favourite toy “Toothbrush”. “Toothbrush” was a stuffed bear but a very special one. He was, you see, a Russian bear and as such was something of a rarity in post war Britain.
Toothbrush had been fetched to Britain by my father from Murmansk where he sailed as part of the Russian convoy system which delivered war supplies to The USSR and had been purchased, as I later understood, from a Russian soldier for the sum of three packets of Royal Navy cigarettes and a small bottle of Royal Navy rum. (All of which was strictly against the rules of both the Royal Navy and the Russian authorities). He became my father’s mascot and was with him through the rest of the war.
Toothbrush and my father both survived several more convoys between Britain and Russia. Toothbrush served with Dad in the North Atlantic and was probably the only Russian to see service with the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. He became an experienced and lucky sailor and airman, (My father was a pilot with the Fleet Air Arm) and on my birth, two years later became my bear.