.

.

We don't know the name of the soldier in the photographs...

Nor the names of the others who appear with him, looking cheerful.

He was just another young man training to be a soldier while a world-sized war was killing soldiers from various nations. Every day and in every corner of the world.

He may not have felt the effects of the World War, but he was probably sent to the Azores or Cape Verde. Thousands of young men like him, soldiers like him, went to those destinations.

Sending all those troops so far away was a way to ensure that Portugal would continue to have soldiers if the country was invaded. And everyone knew that if someone wanted to invade, there was no possible defense.

Carlos Guerreiro