Yakov Grichener chuckles and shrugs when he recalls the day his then 12-year-old grandson made an urgent request. For a history assignment, Alex needed his grandfather to share some stories from his days in Russia's Red Army during World War II.

"He came in all dressed up in his baseball uniform, with his hat and bat and said: 'OK, Grandpa, tell me ..."

Alex fidgeted as Grichener urged him to take a breath, sit down, have a can of pop. Alex said he had no time; his playoff game was coming up.

"I said: 'You know what? You go and have fun, and I will tell you another day,' " Grichener said. "That was it. He never came back.

"The new generation just doesn't want to listen to our war stories."

Today marks the 64th anniversary of Russia Victory Day in World War II. When the Nazis surrendered, Grichener was in a Russian army hospital, nursing a shot-up shoulder.

Victory Day, though, is only the second happiest memory of the war for Grichener, 85, a retired math teacher who lives in Plymouth with his wife of 63 years, Klavdya. He is one of about 150 Russian World War II veterans living in the Twin Cities.

His happiest day came in the otherwise brutal winter of 1943. And it came with a distinctive Minnesota flavor and aroma.

'Comrades, help yourselves'

Born in Romania, Grichener was conscripted into the Russian Army at 17 and stationed in Leningrad. The city was starving from a two-year Nazi blockade. U.S. merchant ships formed Arctic convoys loaded with food, medicine, weapons and Studebakers to help the cut-off Russians.

Enter Grichener, who commanded a boat of 18 soldiers shuttling the U.S. aid from anchored supply ships to the northern port of Murmansk. Waves were steep one day and Grichener feared he wouldn't be able to tie up.

"The Americans were very smart and they just opened iron doors in the side of the ship and we sailed right in," he said.

His eyes grew wide as he saw sacks and sacks of flour "with the American eagle and the inscription: Made in the USA."