IN THE SCHOOL-SHIRT POCKET – AT THE HEART

Meeting with son of the Soviet Union Hero Suren Arakelyan – Hamlet Arakelyan.

– I have not seen my father. I was in the first, or second class. From the newspaper I cut the article about my father, put in a matchbox, and always kept in my school-shirt pocket – at heart. Two brothers of my father, Bagrat and Hovhannes also fought and died in the war.

On the final battle of Suren Arakelyan it was written in the front newspaper in 1943. He crawled closer to the height and threw two grenades at the enemy bunker. Soldiers started storming the height. However, suddenly the enemy machine gun started to shoot. Already wounded, in the last efforts my father threw himself on it, covering the fire. Today, in Anapa, on the site of that bunker the memorial plaque of my father is placed.

Russians are grateful people. Recently, people from Anapa brought a handful of soil from the grave of my father. I felt better. As if my father returned home and has his grave in his homeland. These people told that in that Russian village all weddings begin at the memorial plate of my father, the bride and groom water trees, put flowers on the grave. My sons have repeatedly been in Anapa and participated in the events.

GAYANEH POGHOSYAN