over. look if we measured this is he did imagine that it s night the seas frozen all the way to the finish coast thirty five or forty kilometers away you set off in the dark to reach the finish border. my grandfather was accompanied by his two eldest sons my father was twelve his older brother fifteen my grandfather was forty one of forty two he and his eldest son were on cross-country skis. my father was in a horse drawn sleigh possibly with other escapees the red guards would patrol here at night and shoot whenever they heard a sound. a horse galloping or noises made by a sleigh or skis. this kid from mill bruce and each night the reds would send out an ice breaker from petrograd to foil escape attempts. to treat a little nearer than me but what my father remembers most is the sound of the ice