Another Cadet

Young men living during the Tsarist occupation of Lithuania knew that the only way to avoid the harsh route of a conscript in the Russian Imperial Army was to enroll in a prestigious military college. My maternal Grandfather, Jake, did that, and so did my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas.

Tsarist Russia, about 1910. Vytautas, as a young cadet at the Russian military college.

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Here's how Vytautas looked seven years later, when the Russian Revolution erupted:

Tsarist Russia, 1916. Vytautas, age 23, as an officer in the imperial Army.