The Order of the Red Banner, one of the highest awards in the USSR
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Here’s a real heroine, Guards Colonel Yevdokiya Nikolaevna Zavaly (she fought with the Naval Infantry during the VOV):
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Yevdokiya Nikolaevna was only 15 at the time of the Fascist invasion, but when the aggressors came to her home region of Nikolayev, she lied about her age, and joined the army as a combat medic. Later, after she was wounded, through a mix-up, she received orders to a Naval Infantry unit. For eight months, she fought as a man, until she was “found out” when she was wounded again. The higher command allowed her to remain as a combat soldier, and she became the only woman to command Naval Infantry troops in battle during the VOV. As a platoon commander, she fought at Sevastopol (where she won the Order of the Patriotic War, First Class), the Dniester estuary, Bessarabia, the Constanta (Romania) landing, Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. Her final battle was at Budapest in Hungary, where she led her platoon through the sewers to capture a German command bunker. The German general was shamed to find out that his captor was a woman. This exploit led to the high command decorating her with the Order of the Red Banner.
In Kiev, she met her future husband, got married. She bore two children, she had four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She found a job as a manager of a deli. Yevdokiya Nikolaevna kept active in youth work; she went to many cities, military units, and naval ships telling the story of her time as a Naval Infantry platoon commander. In 2009 alone, she participated in more than 130 events in the Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova. Yevdokiya Nikolaevna died on 5 May 2010 in Kiev, just four days shy of Victory Day.
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Here’s another heroine, Yekaterina Illarionovna Demina:
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Yekaterina Illarionovna Demina (maiden name Mikhailova) was going to Brest on vacation with her brother-pilot. The train was bombed, and they had to walk to Smolensk. She lied about her age, adding two years, and signed up in the Red Army. At Gzhatsk, she received a severe wound in the leg. After recovering, she served on a hospital vessel, being promoted to chief petty officer. After the Battle of Stalingrad, at her request, she became a combat medical orderly in a scout unit in a Naval Infantry battalion. She took part in battles in the Caucasus and the Crimea, the Black and Azov Seas, the Dniester and the Danube, liberating Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Austria, being wounded three times. In December 1944, at the battle for the Ilok fortress on the Hungarian-Yugoslavian border, Katya was severely wounded. After recovering, she returned to duty, and was in Vienna for Victory Day on 9 May 1945. After the war, she graduated from the Second Leningrad Medical Institute. For 36 years, until her retirement in 1985, she was the head doctor at the Minatom Special Laboratory in Elektrostal, then in Moscow. For courage and heroism during the war, Yekaterina Illarionovna received many awards and medals, including two Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of Patriotic War First Class. In 1990, on the 45th anniversary of the Great Victory, the President of the USSR named her a Hero of the Soviet Union for her heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders. She married, had a son, and two granddaughters.
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I respect those people! They stood up for what they believed, and they were willing to put their lives on the line for it. They fought for the Red Banner, the ideals of Socialism, and their native motherland… they were willing to spill their blood for it. All decent people would respect them, even if they didn’t agree with them. Yes, Virginia… they showed that “Socialists” have grit and courage…
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I’m NOT going to give any images of the following people… they’re unworthy of the respect of any decent individual; I’m simply going to list them and their service to their country…
- GEORGE W BUSH… Refused to serve in the active forces, used daddy’s pull to stay at home in the National Guard
- DAN QUAYLE… Refused to serve in the active forces, used daddy’s pull to stay at home in the National Guard
- DICK CHENEY… Refused to serve in the forces at all, “I had other priorities in the ’60s than military service”
- NEWT GINGRICH… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- SARAH PALIN… Never served in the forces
- GEORGE WEIGEL… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- MICHELE BACHMANN… Never served in the forces
- RUSH LIMBAUGH… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- GLENN BECK… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- SEAN HANNITY… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- BILL O’REILLY… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- PAT BUCHANAN… Refused to serve in the active forces (he did attend ROTC classes)… used “pull” to finagle a 4-F (he was an avid jogger… if that isn’t fishy)
- SCOTT WALKER… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- PAUL RYAN… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- RAND PAUL… Refused to serve in the forces at all (but he did “settle” in a malpractice case… great MD, huh?)
- REINHOLD REINCE PRIEBUS (RNC Chairman)… Refused to serve in the forces at all
- MICHAEL SAVAGE (MICHAEL ALAN WEINER)… Refused to serve in the forces at all
I think that you see the common thread in all of this. These greedy, grasping, warmongering apologists for the oligarchs refused to put it on the line for their country, yet, to hear them tell it, they’re the acme of patriotism and service. Excuse me whilst I hurl! No one who has respect for any of these posturing POS charlatans should have the goddamned gall to lecture decent people (an aside to Orthodox people: I’m thinking of five loudmouthed clergymen in particular (three in the District, one in California, and one in Texas)… I think that you know who I mean). There’s no need to go on and on, is there? I don’t wrap myself in the flag, nor do I paint myself out to be an especially-assiduous patriot (as all the above-named do).
Oh. One last thing… Rick Perry washed out as a USAF combat pilot, he was only a REMF C130 driver (mostly, this billet goes to second-tier individuals), and he never held a command position. Michael Savage should keep his big ignorant mouth shut (especially as Mr Savage is one of the “refused to serve in the forces at all” crowd) about Perry’s military expertise… the military never trusted Perry with a responsible command… and that’s the real deal.
Those who respect any of those named in the “rogues’ gallery” above tell the world that character doesn’t matter to them (it speaks volumes of the rightwing, doesn’t it?). You can respect heroes… or, you can respect hypocritical pukes. I prefer to do the former… what about you?
Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
Sunday 21 August 2011
Albany NY
Voices from Russia 
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