Bathe the Order

[lenin501]

I was watching a soviet movie last week and I saw something a little unusual, the movie is Battle for Moscow and it`s about the defense of the city during the Great Patriotic War and in one scene, a soldier is awarded a Order of the Red Banner however his officer took his order and put it in a mug with vodka and told the soldier to drink it, he also said that it was an old tradition of the russian army and that they should give the order a "bath" so it would not be the last one.

Do you guys ever heard of this or have any more information?