April 25, 1945, the day American troops and the troops of the First Ukrainian Front met at the Elbe River, near Torgau in Germany is known as Elbe Day. The most iconic photo of that grand event portrays American 2nd Lt. William Robertson and Ukrainian Lt. Olexander Silvashko. O. Silvashko was born in the Cherkasy oblast of Ukraine and went to the front from there. He was wounded three times and once suffered a concussion. After the Elbe, he fought in Dresden and Prague. When he returned to Ukraine after the war, he discovered that there was no food there. Silvashko had to travel to Belarus to exchange some of his possessions for food and stayed there. He worked as a school teacher even after reaching his retirement age.
