Monday, August 29, 2011

"On the street where you live..."

Like some photobloggers, I often get requests to take a photo of some special place. Last March when I was in the US for an extended stay, Diego, a young man from Bogota, Colombia, wrote to say "...Two years ago I met a girl from Beograd, she lives in that street (Admirala Geprata 9), she is the most wonderful girl I've ever met...". Now that I'm back, I'm finally able to honor Diego's request with this photo of #9!

And just who was "Admiral Geprat"? Here's what I found: Emile Paul Guepratte was largely responsible for the reorganization and transport of the Serbian army from Greece in WWI. The Allies planned to relocate the Serbian army and all patients from field hospitals in Corfu --9,710 of them--in order to provide better care and recovery in hospitals in Northern Africa, France, and Corsica. In 1916, a total of 7,459 patients and 2,458 recruits, along with 1,500 refugees, totaling in all 11,417 Serbs, were transferred, largely thanks to Admiral Guepratte, whose kindness earned him the nickname "Serbian Mother".

And for you, Diego, here is the song from My Fair Lady, On the Street Where You Live.

13 comments:

Olivier said...

tres beau post for Diego

canngil said...

dear Bebe,
do you think you could translate a memorial for me? my grandfather had it erected in POPOVO POLJE where he was born. We are trying to do some family history research, and while google translate is not bad for stuff that is written in Latin alphabet, it stinks for Cyrillic.
Thanks
Cathy Mrakich Gillette

Anonymous said...

We used to live at nr 9.Although different street.Hope the most beautiful girl sees Diego remembers her;)

Alexa said...

I think this is so romantic!

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Awwww, I hope that he can connect with this girl. You are a sweetheart and a matchmaker.

Bises,
Genie

Luis Gomez said...

Beautiful post Bibi. Thank you for this.

Diego said...

I'm teary-eyed, Bibi.
Thank you so much.

J e l e n a said...

You are a darling for doing this.

My great-great-grandfather was on of the soldiers transferred from Corfu. He rests in Bizerte, Tunisia.

Thérèse said...

A sweet work of reconnaissance!

Daryl said...

Nosy commentors want to know .. does he still see her?

Bogdan said...

Interesting picture. Those holes are from shrapnels from NATO bombing and from the window of one of the buildings in Admirala Geprata (maybe even this one!) prime minister Djindjic was assassinated.
So much history!

Leif Hagen said...

The wooden door is new looking while the stone doorframe has history marks in it!

Diego said...

It just finished, but it was great. Thanks once more Bibi.

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