Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 6 · column 5 of 9 · from the scan, no model involved
By ROB BAYNE
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Frank Huff has lived in Rappahannock County all his life. He and his wife now live in Flint Hill across from the old school in a white house with black trim. A black iron sign with “The Huffs” printed in white cursive hangs from the cross bar of a light post in the front yard. In the sunlight the house looks as if it has recently been painted. The current warm spell has coaxed up a few crocuses in a flower bed near the front door. A large iron doorknocker in the shape of an eagle dominates the door.
On a table in the living room are pictures of the family—children, grandchildren, sons and daughters-inlaw—and, hanging on the wall to the left is a picture of Huff in his volunteer fireman’s uniform. Further left, in the hall leading fo the study hangs a framed newspaper clipping with a picture of Private First Class Huff shaking hands with a Russian soldier. Under the picture, the caption reads, “East meets West.”
This picture, which appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world when it was published in April, 1945, is the only visible clue that Huff was part of a historic moment in World War II. The Russian in the picture is one Huff met on a “bridge” over the Elbe River in Germany. In fact, Huff met the Russian on one of the protruding girders of the bridge; the original thoroughfare lay under many feet of water after being destroyed by a German demolition team.
Coming from opposite banks of the river, Huff’s patrol and two Russian officers crawled to a bend in the narrow girder and met, precariously, over the foaming river. It was the first meeting of Russian and American forces during the war; the date was April 25,1945.
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