The Soviet Military Awards Page. Medals, History and Russia!

THE SOVIET MILITARY AWARDS PAGE DIGEST
Issue/date	Summary of Contents
ISSUE #27 April-Sept.., 2008	Henry Sakaida continues to shares his adventures in this first installment of a two part digest story. Henry travels to Mongolia, and visits the sites of the famous Khalkin-Gol incident of 1939. Lots of battlefield archaeology!
ISSUE #26 April-Oct., 2007	Henry Sakaida is back with another tale of adventure from the collectors world. Henry tells his story of how he came into possession the Type 1, Early Suspension medal of Stepan Nikolenko, award number 282!
ISSUE #25 Jan.-April, 2007	This month OMSA member Michael Riley has compiled a brief history of the different types and variations of The Order of the Red Star. Should be required reading for all those who collect this famous Soviet award.
ISSUE #24 March-April, 2006	Carter W. Park submits this article on one of the deadliest snipers of all time. Soviet sniper Fyodor Okhlopkov. Credited with 429 kills by the end of World War 2, he ranks in the top ten snipers of all time!
ISSUE #23 June-Feb., 2005-2006	In this article, Henry Sakaida researches two trade union membership cards from 1987 he purchased at a U.S. militaria show. See what Henry found out about the people he eventually wound up meeting face to face!
ISSUE #22 Jan.-May, 2004	This month, more from Henry Sakaida and his trip to Siberia. Read about the formal return of another Gold Star for Hero of the Soviet Union to the family of the veteran who received it.
ISSUE #21 Oct.-Dec., 2003	This month, Henry Sakaida talks about the research he did for a group of awards he purchased. The person turned out to be a famous Soviet actor! read all about it in issue number 21.
ISSUE #20 Aug.-Sept., 2003	Henry Sakaida travels to Siberia for a wedding and makes time to return a Gold Star medal. See Issue #17 for a similar trip Henry made to return another Gold Star!
ISSUE #19 May-July, 2003	This issue has Henry traveling to Krasny Luch, Ukraine to visit the memorial of famous World War II Pilot and Hero, Lydia Litvyak. He also visits the memorial museum and writes of the exhibits and those who run the museum.
ISSUE #18 Mar.-April, 2003	In this article, find out what the Russian government has to say regarding the official copy of the Gold Star medal for Hero of the Soviet Union. This is the piece of paper we had been waiting for!
ISSUE #17 Feb.-Mar., 2003	This months article discusses the ceremony involved when a stolen Gold Star Medal for Hero of the Soviet Union is returned to the descendants of the original recipient. Read about how governments formally return and accept such a distinguished award.
ISSUE #16 Jan.-Feb., 2003	Henry Sakaida investigates the fabled "wearer's copy" for the Gold Star Medal for Hero of the Soviet Union. Was it official as many claim, or is it fantasy? If you want to find out read all about it in this issue!
ISSUE #15 Nov.-Dec., 2002	This month, Henry Sakaida re-visits Kiev for book research, and we get to read his exclusive interview with a Hero of the Soviet Union form the Great Patriotic War, Major Mariya Dolina. Read all about her fascinating career!
ISSUE #14 Aug.-Oct., 2002	Henry Sakaida gives us the second installment of his four part series on the four recipients of the Hero of the Soviet Union who are also holders of a cavaliers group of the Order of Glory. Read about Hero Ivan Grigorevich Drachenko!
ISSUE #13 June-July, 2002	Leonard Kreskin pens this article dedicated to posters of The Great Patriotic War. The graphic design and illustration are some of the best examples of wartime poster design.
ISSUE #12 April-May, 2002	Henry Sakaida writes the first part of four on recipients of the Hero of the Soviet Union who are also holders of a cavaliers group of the Order of Glory. Interesting because there were only 4! This issue, Hero Andrei Vasilyevich Alyoshin.
ISSUE #11 March 1st, 2002	This article is about the career of Georgii Beregovoi. From WWII fighter pilot to recipient of the title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.
ISSUE #10 Jan.-Feb., 2002	Christer Bergström writes about Boris Safonov, an aviation ace and the first Soviet citizen to be twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
ISSUE #9 Dec. 31st, 2001	Henry Sakaida talks about his research of Hero of the USSR Mookhudin Umurdinov. Henry then finds the proverbial needle in a haystack while attending a militaria show in Las Vegas.
ISSUE #8 Nov. 2nd, 2001	This month, I wrote the digest article describing the Baikul-Amur Railroad project, and the medal which was awarded for participating in this massive effort.
ISSUE #7 Oct. 1st, 2001	Henry Sakaida writes this excellent biography on one of the most successful snipers of World War II. Mankiller: Major Lyudmilla Pavlichenko.
ISSUE #6 Sept. 1st, 2001	This article by Carter W. Park details the specific numbers of Hero awards given to people of Asian ethnicity.
ISSUE #5 Aug. 1st, 2001	Greg Kaminski writes about Soviet war monuments seen while on his excursions in Russia and other sites of importance during World War II.
ISSUE #4 July 1st, 2001	Mahdi Bseiso writes a two part article on Soviet order and medals on Soviet postage stamps. Part 2 of 2.
ISSUE #3 May 31st, 2001	Mahdi Bseiso writes a two part article on Soviet order and medals on Soviet postage stamps. Part 1 of 2.
ISSUE #2 May 9th, 2001	Henry Sakaida writes about his trip to Kiev and the annual Victory Day Parade.
ISSUE #1 April 13th, 2001	Henry Sakaida researches a cavalier group of the Order of Glory.

The Digest