09-07-2011, 03:40 PM
Gents,
Superb image of the first Estonian national to be awarded the HSU title - A. K. Meri. He passed away in 2009. Note the great mix of military/civil decorations in his ribbon rack.
Very fascinating back story here. He was awarded his HSU (s/n 513) on August 15th, 1941 for action against the Germans. Although he was set to participate in the June 24th, 1945 Victory Parade in Moscow as a member of the Leningrad Front's honorary regiment, he was demob'ed just before the parade and sent to Estonia to help build the party structure there. After the war, he was a functionary in the Estonian Communist Party serving as a member of its Central Committee. In 1952 while studying at a party school in Moscow, he was accused of slander, expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of all his Soviet decorations effective August 5th, 1952. In 1956, he was reinstated in the party and his decorations restored.
Regards,
slava1stclass
Superb image of the first Estonian national to be awarded the HSU title - A. K. Meri. He passed away in 2009. Note the great mix of military/civil decorations in his ribbon rack.
Very fascinating back story here. He was awarded his HSU (s/n 513) on August 15th, 1941 for action against the Germans. Although he was set to participate in the June 24th, 1945 Victory Parade in Moscow as a member of the Leningrad Front's honorary regiment, he was demob'ed just before the parade and sent to Estonia to help build the party structure there. After the war, he was a functionary in the Estonian Communist Party serving as a member of its Central Committee. In 1952 while studying at a party school in Moscow, he was accused of slander, expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of all his Soviet decorations effective August 5th, 1952. In 1956, he was reinstated in the party and his decorations restored.
Regards,
slava1stclass
