Victory Day And Victory Parades.

[medals73]

See also: RussiaToday : News : Victory Day lights up Russia

[RedMaestro2]

Here are some more pictures and a bunch of video links. Happy VE Day!

Russian Holidays at Russian Kafe

[Kirchgoens]

There was much less pomp in Tashkent, but they did celebrate. The Russian Embassy sponsored the majority, for which I am thankful. At least for them it is still very important. The local government has already renamed the war to the western "Second World War", and mostly plays a sort of lip-service to the veterans. They did receive an 80,000 cym bonus this 9 May (about $60). Since that's larger than the monthly pensions many receive, I'm sure it was welcome.

Overall, there were very few remaining veterans to be seen, just a dozen or so in attendence while I was there. I took some photos of a couple of them that I'll post, but it was sad to see that the city generally continued on as if it was a day off with no real memory of why.

Already in the past few months, the local government has moved the famous "Friendship of Peoples" statue from near the center of town to the outskirts on the side of a highway, renaming the original location to "Independence Square". If any of you have been to Tashkent, you'll probably know the statue of the Uzbek family that took in a dozen war orphans, demonstrating some of the best traits of family and hospitality found in traditional Uzbek families.

It hurts as a veteran of the US Army to see that the regular veteran, the guy who did it all so well despite the foot upon his head, is a bit forgotten in this corner of the former Soviet Union. It is especially poignant here given that so many of those veterans' families here in Uzbekistan were deported while the veteran was at the front. There are many, many Crimean Tatar and Meskhetian Turk families deported in '44 here, along with large numbers of Korean families deported in '37. Honor your veterans...

[Tal Inbar]

(I didn't take those)

[Tal Inbar]

more pictures from Israel

[Tal Inbar]

Some more pictures from Israel

[SpaceCadet1983]

Even in Russia and Israel, they are The Greatest Generation for their exploits in the Great Patriotic War.:thumbsup

[Simon]

Some of the new uniforms looks plain GAY. If that is good or bad, not for me to decide, but the shape is not really militaristic but rather something that, as stated, would fit better somewhere else.

It's funny that you say this. There are lengthy discussions on Russian forums about gayness of new uniforms and their designer Yudashkin who believe it or not served in the military.

Images from the parade: Lenta.ru: :

[Simon]

Victory Day in Minsk

Photos: Ôîòîðåïîðòàæ ñ ïðàçäíîâàíèÿ Äíÿ Ïîáåäû â Ìèíñêå | ÁÅËÎÐÓÑÑÊÈÅ ÍÎÂÎÑÒÈ

Video (Once the link is opened, press Play button under the photo): БелаПАН. Видеорепортаж о праздновании в Минске Дня Победы

[Tretov]

Some photos from a swedish newspaper.

Bildspel. Parad i Moskva till minne av kriget.