WWII participants told in detail about May 9, 1945

The participants of the Great Patriotic War (WWII) still remember in detail May 9, 1945. On May 9, the veterans themselves told Izvestia about this.

95-year-old Vladimir Rapatsky took part in the liberation of Ukraine and Czechoslovakia as part of the 22nd Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 1st Ukrainian Fleet.

"That day, somewhere, we found a German, brand-new Horch car for the brigade commander. After loading her into the Studebaker, they found not a whole canister, but a bottle of good German wine. And they all got drunk," Rapatsky recalled.

In turn, 101-year-old Galina Beregust went to the front in 1943. She was in her third year of medical school at the time. Until 1945, Beregust served as a senior lieutenant in the medical service of a military hospital.

"At the top, everyone is shouting: "Victory! Victory!". And I was [finishing], I was already sewing up the wounded man, anyway I didn't give up sewing, I continued sewing, and then, when I sewed up, I jumped right out the window. I jumped out, I said, "What?" — "Victory! Victory!" she said.

93-year-old Vladimir Andreichev served in Brest. There, the veteran helped the servicemen of the Brest fortress, brought them water. In September 1942, the Sonderkommando arrived there. Then he managed to escape from the concentration camp. Subsequently, Andreichev provided assistance to the partisans.

"The most important thing is that our people's memory of this Victory Day should be preserved as long as possible," he said.

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On the same day, WWII participant Alexander Trynkov told Izvestia about his service in the Far East and the liberation of China. He was drafted in January 1943, when he was 17 years old. At that time, Soviet soldiers were stationed on the bank of the Amur River, and Japanese troops were on the opposite bank.