Meeting the Veteran

[Koopyetz]

I have read in this forum how you can obtain researched information on the individual associated with ODM's. Has anyone met the actual person
that you received the research on and talked to them firsthand about
their wartime activities.

[desantnik]

I've met many veterans, and researched a veteran's award given to me by his widow, but never discussed a veteran's feat with his actual research.

I'd be surprised if anyone has due to the scarcity of veterans, lengthy time it takes to get research (4-6mos or longer), and possibility of linking the veteran and the research together.

[Riley1965]

Rick,
Paul is right. It would be a DREAM of DREAMs to actually talk with the Soviet veteran. I get a taste of it at the VA hospital. The U.S. WWII and Korean Vets have Great stories to tell...

:thumbsup :thumbsup Doc

[Dave]

I have met quite a few Soviet veterans, but that was long before research was even possible. I would love to go back to Russia and perhaps research someone still alive - that would be very cool.

Dave

[quasar521]

One of the reasons I wanted to know more about soviet decorations is because my grandfather who passed away a year ago was a soviet offices during a war. He had 2 red stars, for bravery, for combat service and some other non combat medals. One thing I can tell you is that I learned that people who were at the front line do not want to talk about it. Although I tried, he spoke little about it and always avoided this subject.

Regarding the awards in general, I have an impression that the farther you were from the front line, the more you got. If you speak Russian, I suggest reading memoirs at www.iremember.ru.

[ericlida]

quasar521
Thanks. Great site:thumbsup
Eric

[Esteban_cool]

Originally Posted by quasar521

I have an impression that the farther you were from the front line, the more you got

Yup, that´s true. Of some veterans from certain places I had the privilege to meet, one of them received all of his awards after his combats were over.
And all of them avoid talking about that.

Esteban

[jefflgarrison]

Not just the Russian veterans, my grandfather was in the US Navy. His ship, sailed while he was in Pearl Harbor with pneumonia. It never came back. For him, he suffered suvivors guilt for many years and refused to talk about the ship or any of his mates.

[416thRifleRgt]

Gentleman,

In January of 2006 I had the honour of attending a WWII round table at Fort Snelling in the Twin Cities. They had brought in 3 Russian Veterans of the GPW. One Leningrad Vet, One Stalingrad Vet and One Typhoon+ Vet.

Each one was absolutely amazing. The stories they had to tell that evening was awesome. The Sergeant who outside of Leningrad sortied into the german trenches to capture a gramaphone the Germans had. Namely cause the germans had only one record and they were getting tired of hearing it. The Lnt that stayed with her Radio Equipment when the Oil tanks in Stalingrad were hit, while her comrades dove into the Volga. The Colonel and his first vodka drinking experience.

What made the night for me, was I was there in a 35 tunic, decked out for infantry captain in 1941. I had walked out of the auditorium to find the other reenactors there and the Lnt saw me walk out. The instant she saw me, she smiled and I could tell a flood of memories had suddenly come over her. When the Colonel saw us, he wanted to sit and tell us stories, rather than talk to the newspaper reporters that were there.

Truly an amazing night. Now mind you this was in the Minneapolis-St Paul area. Where they had quite a large Russian immigrant population. And apparently over 800 GPW veterans, IIRC. Also that night I learned there were thriving russian speaking veterans organizations in St Louis and Chicago. There must be more. We are trying to get in touch with the Minn/SP group to put on something special for May 9th. We'll see. It is suprising how many russian veterans are in the US.

Also I have met several German Ostfront Veterans who are very willing to talk to us about their experiences in Russia.

As with all veterans, some are more open to discussing their stories, and some prefer not to. Part of it is to respect their wishes and build a good rapport with them. I think the colonel really warmed up to us when he came up to me and said; "You are a captain. I was a captain in 1941." My response was; "You were a Captain for real." :D

Too bad we are losing these folks so fast. I would like to see more of them get their memoirs published.

-dave