23 December 2016. These are MY Heroes… Yekaterina Illarionovna Kalinchuk Demina

____________________________________

Today, 22 December, is the 91st birthday of Yekaterina Illarionovna Kalinchuk Demina… a legendary veteran of the VOV. At 16-years-old, she became a medical orderly in the 369 Separate Naval Infantry Battalion of the Danube Flotilla. She served with that unit throughout the entire war, being at the front in the Caucasus and Stalingrad, ending up in Hungary and Austria. She was a frontline hero, winning not only the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin, but also two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War (First Class), and the Medal “For Courage”.

Congratulations, Yekaterina Illarionovna! Happy birthday! We wish you health and many years!

22 December 2016

Yevgeni Spitsyn

Facebook

Editor:

Compare Yekaterina Illarionovna to John McCain… there’s no comparison between a real heroine and a posturing cowboy, is there?  McCain was no coward, but he was no hero either. Old hands warned him many times that his recklessness would end badly, but he refused to listen to his elders and betters (nothing much has changed in him, has it?). The US Navy refused to promote this son and grandson of admirals to flag rank (a friend told me that the Navy didn’t want such a man in command of a task force… they feared that he’d kill others to prove his macho creds). On the other hand, Yekaterina Illarionovna did her duty at the front, showing not only prudence (for she did survive four years of the most-gruelling war ever fought), but also heroism (as her decorations prove to all comers).

I know whom I admire. It’s NOT John McCain. I confide that I’m not alone in thinking that way.

BMD

Advertisement